JEDDAH, 5 April 2006 — Saudi Arabia’s campaign to win domestic and foreign investments entered a new phase yesterday with the opening of the first office for the service of investors at King Khaled Airport in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) plans to open similar offices at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah and King Fahd Airport in Dammam within a few days, the Saudi Press Agency said.
“The office will provide the necessary assistance to investors at the time of arrival in the Kingdom including services such as ticketing, reservation and transportation,” SAGIA said in a statement. “It will also accept applications for license from investors.”
The office will provide foreign investors and businessmen with information and data required by them, including the Kingdom’s rules and regulations, incentives offered by the government to investors and investment procedures. There is service line to expedite immigration procedures of foreign investors on their arrival.
The inauguration of service offices at airports comes after the government announced a series of measures last year to improve the country’s investment climate, removing obstacles facing private investors, allowing foreign manpower recruitment and speeding up licensing procedures.
In July 2005, the Supreme Economic Council, an apex decision-making body chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, approved the implementation of 17 agreements between SAGIA and relevant government departments to make Saudi Arabia more investment-friendly.
SAGIA chief Amr Al-Dabbagh said the agreements encourage the private sector to set up specialized universities and colleges in conjunction with renowned world universities, foster industrial projects by giving exemptions on customs tariffs, and granting facilities such as entry visas to foreign investors.
They also feature streamlining judicial procedures to resolve trade disputes, strengthening guarantees for investors, promoting women’s input in investment and speeding up the process of collecting imports from entry ports, he said.
Other measures include offering special incentives to locals and foreigners who invest in less developed areas of the vast Kingdom and drafting plans to raise the operational capacity of Saudi ports.
The agreements reduce the time for getting investment permission and trade registration in order to begin foreign projects. They also present the mechanisms to solve the problems facing different investment sectors especially industrial projects and offering them longer customs’ exemption periods.
The new measures simplify the process for foreign investors to get entry visas through Saudi embassies directly without the need for a letter of invitation, Dabbagh said, adding that this facility will be available in all 30 countries in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Establishing SAGIA offices in a number of Saudi embassies abroad specialized in processing businessmen’s papers and providing information to foreign investors interested in investing in Saudi Arabia. The new measures to attract investment comes at a time when the Kingdom is seeking funds for projects worth more than SR2.34 trillion ($624 billion) in vital sectors including petrochemicals, gas, railways, desalination and electricity.
