JEDDAH: Sixteen companies comprising the latest UK trade mission to Saudi Arabia landed in Dammam on Friday. The mission, led by David Lloyd, senior consultant at the Middle East Association (MEA), sponsored by the British Offset Office and supported by UK Trade & Investment, is the association’s first of 11 visits planned this year.
In Riyadh the mission will call on the chamber of commerce, SAGIA (Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority), Maaden, SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) and the Saudi Committee for International Trade. In Jeddah calls will include the chamber of commerce, the Khadija bint Khuwailed Center for Businesswomen, the National Commercial Bank and the private sector.
“Increasingly, British exporters of goods and services are coming to see Saudi Arabia as the largest and most prosperous economy in the Middle East. It is now comfortably the largest economy in the Middle East and, under Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, is modernizing socially, culturally and economically,” said Lloyd.
“The continuing popularity of MEA trade missions to the Kingdom underlines the huge importance of the Saudi marketplace.”
He added that the Middle East Association had and would continue to promote the Saudi marketplace as one of limitless business opportunity for British exporters.
The mix of commercial capabilities in the mission includes such diverse areas as the oil and gas sector; education and training; construction, construction materials and engineering; high quality industrial footwear; food manufacturing and food service design; and diesel and gas generation.
Reflecting the growing importance to the Kingdom of developing a work force aligned with the current and future needs of the Kingdom, five of the visiting companies are involved in the education and training sector. Already Saudi Arabia has substantial educational links with the UK where about 15,000 Saudi students are involved in tertiary education.
Eight of the companies will be new to the Saudi market.
The mission’s objective is to enable new visitors to the Kingdom to familiarize themselves with the country and its market place, and to make initial contacts. The returnees on their second or third visits hope to meet established contacts and progress their business interests.
According to Lloyd, mission members particularly look forward to the networking opportunities offered by posts.
The mission returns to the Kingdom on Nov. 13, after a busy year visiting Jordan, Palestine, Libya, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Syria Lebanon and the UAE among other destinations.
