DAMMAM, 2 July 2007 — Saudi Ambassador to Canada Abdul Aziz Al-Sowaiyegh promised to issue entry visa on the same day to Canadian businessmen who intend to visit the Kingdom provided that all the necessary documents are submitted.
The move is expected create significant opportunities for Canadian and Saudi investors to boost their exports of goods and services and two-way investments.
The Saudi ambassador called on the Canadian businessmen to invest in Saudi Arabia and take advantage of the economic boom there.
Several agreements were reached at a meeting of the Saudi-Canadian Business Council (SCBC) in Toronto recently, with Salah Al-Qahtani, head of the SCBC, leading the Saudi group.
Around 140 Canadian businessmen took part in the event.
The agreements include, among others, intensifying mutual visits by the business delegations between the two countries. The delegation also recommended the raising of the two-way investments in both countries. The Saudi businessmen also welcomed the willingness of their Canadian counterparts to offer work training in the private sector.
Both countries’ businessmen also stressed the need for simplifying the investment formalities particularly in areas of petroleum, gas, water, technologies and service sectors.
“It is our strong desire to offer important investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia to Canadian investors while we are being offered investment opportunities in Canada. We also want to increase the volume of trade between the two countries from the current SR6.77 billion,” Al-Qahtani said while addressing the meeting.
Ali Al-Yami, deputy chairman of the Saudi-Canada Business Council, who also accompanied the delegation, told Arab News recently that a representative of Canada’s ministry of economy and trade briefed the Saudi delegation about the investment opportunities in Toronto, where 38 percent of Canada’s motor and spare parts industries concentrated. The delegation also visited the Toronto stock market. The bourse officials offered to trade Saudi stocks in the Canadian stock markets, Al-Yami said.
In another meeting of the SCBC in Vancouver, 110 Canadian businessmen attended and made discussions on two-way investments with the Saudi delegation.
Omar Ahmad Bahlyuh of the Saudi delegation talked about business opportunities in the Kingdom’s private sector in which investments are expected to exceed $624 billion in 2020. The investment opportunities included electrical, mechanical, infrastructure, petrochemical projects, among others.
Addressing the meeting, a Canadian high-ranking official said 8,000 Canadians are currently working in the Kingdom while the number of Canadian citizens of Arab origin in Canada grows to more than 800,000.
Canada exported commodities worth $800 million to the Kingdom. They comprised mainly heavy equipment for freight movement, agriculture, fishing, electricity, mining, etc., besides technological services.
A Canadian business delegation will visit the Kingdom in November, Al-Yami added.
