JEDDAH, 21 February 2005 — At a private meeting of the Saudi-British Joint Business Council on the sidelines of the Jeddah Economic Forum, Saudi Ambassador to UK Prince Turki Al-Faisal set out his analysis and projections for the future of Saudi-British business relations. In response, Prince Andrew reinforced the British representative’s beliefs that Saudi Arabia was not an insecure place to do business and that it was the duty of both parties to put out that message “loud and clear.”
Prince Turki praised businessmen as a breed “not only because of their economic mettle but also their relentless work in the face of the terror campaign.” He pointed to last year’s British investment totaling $3.5 billion as evidence that “neither investors, businessmen nor the people paid heed to terrorists. If anything, this affirms the high level of confidence people have in the Kingdom and its economy.” He referred to the need for misunderstandings between government and business to be set straight and recommended healthy competition to businessmen. “Move ahead and you will see the government behind offering its support.”
In concert with the JEF theme of Capacity building, Prince Turki spoke of the importance of developing a qualified workforce, not only to attract foreign investment but to keep domestic investment in the country. The government he said is investing heavily in education and training.
Last year alone, the government budget for this was SR3.7 billion covering 59 technical and advanced colleges.
“There is a drawback in Saudi culture among businessmen,” said Prince Turki. “They expect the customer to come to them. This causes the loss of many chances and makes them lose a lot of money.” He felt the 50 years reliance on petroleum products as a contributive factor; “the entire world demands it.” With new products and services that is not the case.
“I do not hesitate in saying that to sell a product we must get up off our behinds, move and market our product...using every marketing tool necessary.” Colleges he said must allocate part of their budgets to training people in sales, possibly as part of a public-private partnership project.
Colin Craig, Britsh co-chairman, said that recently he had noted a development role of the private sector in that it was investing not in the well established infrastructure of the Kingdom but a wider range of investments inside the region. With the development of other areas of investment potential, he felt that there was an “exciting future” for business in the Kingdom. He said that there were some unfortunate perceptions abroad about Saudi Arabia — “they are only perceptions, but we have to deal with them.”
Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Hashem Yamani detailed the benefits for the business community by recent economic reforms “to create a more conducive business environment.” He drew attention to the privatization programs over a wide range of industries including electricity generation and distribution, sewage and desalination and the establishment of regulatory bodies to monitor their competing interests.
“These efforts,” he said, “support the already existing strong ties between our countries.” The UK is the Kingdom’s second largest trade partner after Germany in Europe. Prince Andrew said that he felt that business confidence in Saudi Arabia was “going through the roof” and that the private sector was leading the increasing investment in the region. There were concerns for UK businesses, he said. It is quite clear, he said, that the Saudi government has begun successfully to disrupt the terrorists. Referring to the UK’s interaction with the IRA for over 30 years, he suggested that the efforts had to be sustained.
Sherard Cowper-Coles, the UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said that the travel advice to intending travelers to the Kingdom had been modified as a “professional assessment” of the situation here had reported reduced risks. Prince Andrew understood that there were considerable stresses on the British expatriates in the Kingdom, and praised their resolve to stay in the face of some other countries withdrawing.
“These we should see not as negatives, but as opportunities,” he said. “We should stay and be confident.”
Anticipating the closed session of the meeting, Prince Andrew said that part of his role in visiting Jeddah was to “activate relationships at the highest level” and to facilitate in resolving the few issues that needed to be addressed.
