JEDDAH, 11 May 2005 — A Saudi delegation headed by Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, president of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has returned yesterday from a trip to Turkey where they met the Independent Industrialized Businessmen Association (MUSIAD), which is considered the largest organization for independent Turkish businessmen. The meetings resulted in signing cooperation agreements and information exchange between the JCCI and the MUSIAD. The delegation also attended the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum organized by the Economic and Business Group held in May 5 and 6. The forum is the first of its kind in addressing the different Turkish-Arab economic relations. Mazen Batterjee, vice president of the JCCI, spoke at the forum about the cooperation opportunities in the various commercial and investment sectors between the Kingdom and Turkey.
While there, the Saudi delegation attended the first round of meetings between the Saudi-Turkish Business Council in Istanbul on May 6 followed by individual meetings with a group of Turkish companies. Dr. Al-Sulaiman then met with the mayor of Istanbul and it was a positive meeting during which they discussed ways of economic cooperation. Dr. Al-Sulaiman extended an invitation to the mayor to come to Jeddah. He also met with the government institution concerned with supporting small enterprises and discussed ways of benefiting from the Turkish experience in this regard. These discussions will be put into an agreement that will be signed next month when the Turkish representatives visit Jeddah.
The Saudi delegation also had the opportunity to meet with the president and members of the Istanbul Chamber. They discussed the different ways of cooperation between the Kingdom and Turkey in commercial and investment trade and encouraging Turkish companies to enter the Saudi market. They also talked about ways of activating Saudi investment in Turkey and highlighted the various tourism attractions in Turkey. They concluded by signing a “twining agreement” between the Jeddah and Istanbul chambers.
