Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Madinah, Mohammed Faraj Al-Khatrawi, met with the Consul General of South Africa, Ebrahim Edries, and discussed key aspects of cooperation and the promotion of investment partnerships and trade between businessmen in Madinah and their counterparts from South Africa.

At the beginning of the meeting, which was attended by the Secretary General of the Chamber, Muhammad Abdullah Al-Sharif, the South African Consul General was welcomed and the economic relations between the two countries were highlighted.

Al-Khawatri mentioned a number of investment opportunities in Madinah, alluding to the possibility of investing in the areas of knowledge-based industries, construction and infrastructure and mining, in addition to highlighting what can be learned from the experience and expertise of South Africa.

The city of Madinah is witnessing a construction boom due to the number of mega-projects being implemented, the most important of which include the King Abdullah project for the expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque. This is in addition to the expansion of the industrial city and the building of thousands of housing units, the Knowledge Economic City, the Two Holy Mosques train project and the construction of the new Prince Mohammed International Airport in Madinah.

Edries addressed the progressive development of relations between the Kingdom and South Africa, pointing out that this event is but an extension of previous visits to strengthen networking with the business community in Madinah.

In this regard, Al-Sharif pointed out that the executive body of the Chamber, represented in the Secretariat, would prepare a special mechanism to follow up on the implementation of the outcome of this meeting, while the South African Consul General stressed that he will give his utmost attention to encourage joint investments with businessmen in Madinah.

There are currently 19 joint ventures between Saudi Arabia and South Africa, which include industrial and non-industrial activities. The maximum volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom and South Africa amounted to SR 21.068 billion in 2008, and reached SR 20.04 billion in 2011. The value of the Kingdom’s exports to South Africa increased to about 62 percent of its value from the previous year in 2011. The value of the Kingdom’s imports from South Africa also increased to about 12.6 percent in 2011 in comparison to its value in 2010.