Trade relations forge ahead

RIYADH: The Riyadh-based US-Saudi Arabian Business Council (USSABC) has been playing a vital role in fostering the strategic business alliance between Saudi Arabia and the US.
The council was established as a non-profit organization in 1993 as a spin-off of the US-Saudi Arabian Joint Economic Commission, a technical assistance initiative between the Saudi Ministry of Finance and National Economy and the US Department of Treasury, which was co-chaired by Mohammed Abalkhail, former Saudi minister of finance and national economy, and US Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen.
Today, the USSABC is recognized as the premier US-based bilateral business promotion entity working with US and Saudi companies. It provides ACCESS and NETWORKING (through trade missions, business development services, conferences and seminars in both countries) as well as INSIGHT (through publications and industry sector reports) to member and non-member companies that want to pursue specific business activities in Saudi Arabia and/or the US.
With offices in Saudi Arabia and the US, and a membership base of approximately 400 leading American and Saudi companies, the USSABC effectively utilizes its strong US and Saudi government support, market knowledge and contacts within Saudi Arabia, to accelerate business in the Kingdom.
The business council is co-chaired by Abdallah S. Jum’ah, chairman of the Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB), and Peter J. Robertson, former vice chairman of Chevron. The council’s board of directors consists of prominent businessmen from the US and Saudi Arabia.
The Fourth Saudi-US Business Opportunities Forum, which concluded in March in Riyadh, was organized by the USSABC and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. In its concluding recommendations, the forum underscored the importance of business-to-business linkages, essential role of government-to-government collaboration in strengthening bilateral economic and commercial relationship, and the depth of their decades-long partnership as the basis for shaping future partnership.
The forum established the US-Saudi strategic partnership for the 21st century, as proposed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman during his visit to the US in September last year. It serves as a primary platform for building a new and productive economic and commercial relationship between the US and the Kingdom.
The forum acknowledged both governments’ determination to diversify their economies to create new employment opportunities for their citizens, increase economic growth by expanding existing areas of economic activity and establishing new ones, and enhance investment climate in both countries by further developing the commercial legal system, collaborating with the private sector in developing new business policies and regulations, and establishing procedures that facilitate the entry of new firms into both markets – especially small-to-medium-sized companies.