Vibrant Vienna beckons investors from Kingdom

Austria, with its stable political system and its highly diversified economy, is an attractive destination for Saudi businessmen, investors and tourists.
Gregor W. Koessler, Austrian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, spoke at length about Austria’s progressive relations with the Kingdom, in a special interview with Arab News.
Ambassador Koessler, who is accredited to Oman and Yemen also, gave an overview of Austria’s relations with the Middle East region as a whole, its commercial ties with the Kingdom and the region besides its political engagements in the region with special reference to the establishment of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna.
Speaking to Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Riyadh bureau chief of Arab News, on the occasion of Austrian national day, the envoy also shared information about the formation of government in Austria following general elections.

Here are the excerpts from the interview.
How do you evaluate relations between Austria and Saudi Arabia? Please give a brief comment with special reference to the new developments on bilateral level. Also, what is the latest about the formation of government in Austria after leaders of Austria’s two biggest parties agreed to discuss forming the new government. Is there any plan of any Saudi official or delegation to visit Austria in the near future? Is any Austrian commercial delegation or political visit on the cards? 
Our relations with Saudi Arabia continue to be excellent both in political and commercial terms. Regular visits of Saudi and Austrian political representatives as well as constant diplomatic exchanges help foster our relationship on many fronts. In Austria, regular parliamentary elections were held on September 29, and President Dr. Heinz Fischer has requested the head of the Social Democrats — who received the highest number of votes — to start coalition talks. Currently, the main talks are being conducted between the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the Conservatives (ÖVP). Despite 2013 being an election year, our Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor, Dr. Michael Spindelegger, visited Riyadh and Jeddah earlier this year. There are constant expressions of interest for new visits both in Austria and the Kingdom but on the federal level we will have to wait for the new government to be formed in Vienna in order to proceed with new plans. Meanwhile, visits of business delegations and on municipal level are being envisaged in the near future.
 
Austria played a key role in establishing the King Abdullah Center for Interfaith Dialogue in Vienna. What kind of programs are being undertaken by the the center?
Together with Saudi Arabia and Spain, Austria is one of the founding members of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue. It was officially opened in Vienna in November last year. I visited the new offices of the center this summer in Vienna and could see that not only its infrastructure is now well in place but also all key personnel have been hired. The team, under the leadership of Secretary-General Faisal Al Muammar, and with the great help of his — Austrian — Deputy Secretary General, former Minister of Justice Claudia Bandion-Ortner, is taking off with several initiatives, such as a regional education conference which was held in Addis Ababa in September or a multi-religious collaboration for the life-saving and wellbeing of children from the bottom 20 percent income communities in Uganda. Also, strategic program outlines for the first three years were defined under the headline” the image of the other”, including education and best practice, media perception issues, and Internet-based communication. Of course, the challenge is manifold, and expectation management will not be easy, but in my personal opinion, it was important to begin working on this complex set of themes. As Austrians, we are very proud that Vienna is regarded as the right place to act as a hub for better understanding. Of course, I may add, we have a long tradition of providing a legal basis for peaceful religious activities for our Muslim community in Austria. Our law on Islam dates back to 1912 and it is still valid!

We would like to know the total value of two-way trade. What have been your exports and imports to/from Saudi Arabia? Which are the major commodities being exported by Vienna to Saudi Arabia and vice-versa.
 Our trade volume exceeded one billion euros in 2012, and is growing constantly. Several Austrian companies of various sectors have taken up roles as subcontractors, especially in the fields of infrastructure and governmental investments. For instance: two lines of the Riyadh Metro project were assigned to the Siemens-lead consortium. Siemens Austria, as one of the consortium partners, will deliver the rolling stocks. Rosenbauer, a company based in Upper Austria, has been delivering out its biggest projects ever to the Saudi authorities consisting of a total of around 2,000 fire-fighting vehicles. Seele Austria is a subcontractor for the construction of King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh. And Bernard Engineers play a major role as specialists in the field of road construction as well as tunneling and won several projects throughout Saudi Arabia.

There have been some talks about possible Saudi investments in some sectors in Austria. What are the specific areas of cooperation or potential fields of investment for Saudi businessmen?
Austria, with its stable political system and its highly diversified economy, certainly is attractive for Saudi businessmen and investors. This year’s formation of the Saudi-Austrian Business Council with Abdul Aziz Arrukban at its helm for the Saudi side is providing us with a new and very important instrument for deepening the cooperation in all business sectors, including new investments. We are now in the process of identifying the right partners in Austria, in order for the Business Council to go into full swing.
   
What is Austrian position on Syria and Yemen besides other key regional issues?
 To start with, Austria is fully aware of the crucial role the Kingdom plays in the region and beyond. Our positions are reflected in well-known European Union statements on regional developments as we give our input and support to the common foreign and security policy of the European Union.
But of course, the Middle East is a key element in Austrian bilateral foreign policy efforts. The Austrian government has supported humanitarian relief actions for refugees from Syria with around 7 million euros. We have also accepted several hundred Syrian refugees in our country. We furthermore contribute experts to the UN mission for the dismantlement of the chemical arsenal of Syria. First and foremost, however, Austria is calling for an immediate stop to the violence in the country and strongly advocates a political solution to this horrible conflict.
With regard to Yemen, Austria lends strong political support to the national dialogue which has made some progress recently but needs to see completion in the closer future. Austria, however, remains concerned about the difficult security situation inside the country which stifles both international support measures and economic development.

In terms of international tourist arrivals, Austria ranks 12th with more than 21 million tourists visiting your country. What is the impact of Saudi visitors in Austria’s tourist industry?
 Our excellent relations are also reflected by the high appeal of Austria as a destination for tourists, diplomats and businesspeople from the Kingdom. Of course, there are many reasons to travel to Austria, also in political terms, as we host the UN, the King Abdullah Dialogue Center, OPEC, the OPEC Fund and many other international institutions and centers in Vienna. We have seen a marked rise in the numbers of Saudi citizens arriving in Austria. The total number of arrivals in 2012 amounted to 64,000. In 2013, we counted 63,700 arrivals only for the period from January to August. The number of overnight stays is above 220,000 for both years.