Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority Governor, Amr Abdullah Al Dabbagh and a 50-member Saudi business delegation will visit the United Kingdom on June 17 to discuss investment opportunities in the two countries and ways to promote bilateral economic and investment cooperation.
In a remarkable precedent, Buckingham Palace will open its doors to the Kingdom's delegation where the meetings with the British businessmen will be held in the Palace in honor of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson will attend the meetings.
Al Dabbagh said the successive visits that SAGIA and Saudi business delegations make to various countries are a part of SAGIA's effort to promote foreign investment in the Kingdom and protect Saudi capital abroad.
"With the global financial crisis affecting investments worldwide, international competition to attract investments became stronger," he said. Al Dabbagh stressed that current and previous experiences prove that Saudi Arabia is the safest place for direct investments and that for decades the Kingdom has been one of the best destinations where Saudi, mixed, and foreign investment projects achieve high return and face very low risks. He pointed out that Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that were least affected by the current global financial crisis.
In 2007 the total trade volume between the Kingdom and the UK stood at $ 4.6 billion dollars. Exports to the UK made up 23% of the total trade volume which mainly consisted of crude petroleum oils, polyethylene, ethylene glycol, polyethylene. Major imports from the UK, to Saudi Arabia included aircraft/helicopter spare parts, semi-finished iron and steel products. In 2008, the volume of FDI in flow from the UK to the Kingdom was approximately $800 million and just over $2.2 billon in FDI stock.
Al Dabbagh added “SAGIA's strategy is to promote the investment opportunities available in the Kingdom in sectors which the country has competitive advantages to attract the global industry leaders of those sectors. We work together with the leaders of countries to encourage their companies to invest in the sectors where the Kingdom has competitive advantages, such as energy, transport, and knowledge industries. In return, SAGIA encourages Saudi companies to invest in those countries in sectors where the Kingdom does not have relative advantages.”
