RIYADH, 28 May 2006 — Australia and Saudi Arabia should encourage an increased flow of mutual investment, according to Australia’s top envoy.
“I like to see more Australian investment in the Kingdom, as privatization and other market approaches advance here, and more Saudi investment in Australia, which has become quite simply one of the world’s most robust and consistently growing economies,” Australian Ambassador Ian Biggs told Arab News in an interview
Biggs, who returned to the Kingdom in 2005 after a gap of 15 years — he was earlier posted at the Australian Embassy in Riyadh in 1988-91 — is upbeat about many things including the fact that more students from the Kingdom and elsewhere in the Gulf are choosing to pursue their tertiary education in Australia.
“This is a very good way for us to showcase our country to the students and to their extended families that come out to visit. We’re keen to promote tourism and this is one of the best ways to do just that,” he added.
Promoting tourism has become even easier lately for Australia, as it has been awarded the “World’s Friendliest Nation” title, according to the latest Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index (NBI) released recently. “This latest survey confirms what many visitors to Australia already know: That Australians are welcoming and friendly,” Biggs said.
“Tourism, of course, is perhaps the best prospect of all, because annual numbers of Saudi tourists visiting Australia are still only in the thousands and I truly believe that as more people discover the delights of holidaying in Australia, those numbers can be multiplied many times over,” he said.
Australia is a beautiful and friendly place, with a first-world infrastructure for relaxation and adventure. Air links keep getting easier, with more than 40 flights weekly (soon to double form all accounts) from the Gulf, so people are coming to realize that we’re closer than the Americas, as an example. And we’re progressively streamlining visa arrangements and there are now agencies in all the main Saudi cities,” Biggs said. “Australians are originally from every part of the world, so visitors from this region are given a warm welcome,” he added.
Biggs has never had a problem convincing people that in this part of the world in any case. He says that Australia’s profile in the Kingdom and the region has been high for many years, not least because there are thousands of Australians working here who prove the point as engineers, doctors, nurses, business managers, agricultural advisers, academics and so on.
Success has been prominent in contributing to food security in the region with the provision of bulk commodities, chilled, processed and frozen food and the equipment and expertise for local production. “Australians are a customer for oil and fertilizer, and a supplier of everything from alumina to IT switches.
Australia greatly values its relations with the Kingdom, a major economy and highly influential country in a region of global strategic significance. “Saudi Arabia is Australia’s largest trade partner in the Middle East. And yet Australia also values its political and commercial relations with Bahrain, Oman and Yemen — the other countries of his accreditation. As their economies open and diversity, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen represent growing trade and investment opportunities for Australian exporters and investors, said Biggs. “Being posted to Saudi Arabia is a special privilege for me,” he added.
