JEDDAH, 12 March 2008 — A 29-member delegation from the southwest German state of Baden-Wurttemberg is on a visit exploring the prospects for Saudi Arabia’s engineering projects.
“This is a mission of engineers from the state of Baden-Wurttemberg and we find the prospects of cooperation bright due to the ongoing economic boom and six new cities that have been planned,” Dr. Hans-Dieter Frey, head of the department of economic policy and international relations at the ministry of economic affairs of Germany’s federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgart, told Arab News on the sidelines of the mission’s meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) yesterday.
“The German industry and enterprises of our region have strong relations with Saudi Arabia for a long time. This is the first time that a delegation of engineers has come here,” he said.
These engineers who have ongoing projects in different parts of the world are seeking projects across the Kingdom, especially in the ongoing construction boom and six new cities that are under way.
“We had a meeting with the Ministry of Water and Electricity, the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the Saudi Council of Engineers in Riyadh on Monday. “Our meetings with the ministries were for forging more business cooperation,” Dr. Frey said.
Infrastructure, structural engineering, environment and water, and transport and traffic are among the fields the engineers are interested in. The mission also had group meetings with Saudi businessmen.
Baden Wurttemberg is one of the leading innovative regions in Europe. It is a state of engineers and inventors. In 1886, the first automobile in the world was invented in this state. Hi-tech and the art of construction engineering occupy a fir place in the economy of the state.
“The engineers of Baden-Wurttemberg have a heritage to preserve and a responsibility to meet the demands of our high tradition,” Dr. Herbert Neuland, managing director of Baden-Wurttemberg International Agency for International Economic and Scientific Cooperation, Stuttgart, said in his presentation.
Mazen Batterjee, vice chairman of JCCI, said in his welcome remarks that the business community should benefit from the presence of the visiting mission. “They are all engineering experts and we should benefit from their expertise,” he said.
The mission, some of whose members visited the Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration here yesterday, is scheduled to visit the King Abdullah Economic
