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Export Club highlights opportunities in Saudi Arabia

More than a hundred business executives and media representatives attended the Chamber’s offices on 25 October for the latest Arab-British Export Club which covered new opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

The distinguished guests, including HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, the Saudi
Arabian Ambassador to London, were welcomed by Ms Afnan Al Shuaiby, Secretary General and CEO of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, who also chaired the event.
Saudi Arabia was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Arab world in 2006, attracting $18.3 billion, an increase of 51 percent over 2005, according to a new report from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Ms Al Shuaiby pointed out.
The development of the Kingdom’s new economic cities, and special economic zones offered major investment opportunities, she said.
The Kingdom was becoming an increasingly important market for the UK, particularly as it now accounts for 25 per cent of the Arab world's GDP.

She expressed the hope that HRH King Abdullah's state visit to the UK at the end of
October would further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.
A keynote address was given by H H Prince Mohammad Ibn Nawaf, Ambassador to London of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who spoke of the new chapter in relations between the two kingdoms that would open up with King Abdullah’s visit.
He said that business opportunities between the UK and Saudi Arabia were today unprecedented. The Kingdom was the UK’s largest trading partner in the Middle East while the UK was Saudi Arabia’s second largest investor.
The Kingdom was currently experiencing a rapid pace in economic growth that was already providing many rewarding opportunities for investors. The efforts to diversify the economic base along with the adoption of policies for greater transparency and the privatisation drive were all factors making the Kingdom more attractive to investors, he said.

Stressing that Saudi Arabia regarded its people as the nation’s greatest asset, HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf described how the Kingdom was taking action to enhance its educational system, pointing in particular to the role of the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology which will be part of the new King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).
The new university would become an important centre for new research and scientific innovation for the future, he said.
The Ambassador also welcomed the opportunity to address the Export Club and, paying tribute to the work of the Chamber over the past 30 years in fostering trade and investment, he said that he looked forward to working more closely with the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce in future activities.
The Export Club highlighted the unprecedented opportunities currently opening up in the Kingdom in numerous sectors such as construction and services like health, education and IT, to name but a few. For example, the construction boom is gaining momentum with multibillion-dollar projects to upgrade infrastructure beginning to take effect.
Saudi Arabia’s investment programme is huge in scale, delegates to the Export Club heard, with a budget totalling $624 billion. Ambitious plans include thousands of kilometres of new roads and railways; billions of dollars invested into new water, sewerage and electricity plants; and 4 million new housing units to be completed over the next decade, with housing investment to the year 2020 is estimated at $320bn, according to the Kingdom's investment authority SAGIA.

Central to the developments in many respects are the economic cities which will promote regional economic development and generate hundreds of thousands of new jobs for the local population. The cities will specialise in particular industries seeking to capitalise on those sectors where the Kingdom is already a leading player such as petrochemicals.
The latest developments regarding the building plans for the economic cities were outlined by Oliver Cornock, Gulf regional editor of Oxford Business Group, in his wide ranging presentation.
Paul Taylor, UKTI Head, Middle East team, explained his organisation’s new strategy to support UK firms in the market, which was launched in a document called “Prosperity in a Changing World”. The UKTI was seeking to work more with “key stakeholders” in the Middle East business sector such as the A-BCC.
The new policy meant that the UKTI was focusing on what it had identified as key high growth markets with most potential for business, including Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar and the UAE, Mr Taylor stated.
The priority sectors for UK business that UKTI was highlighting were: construction, healthcare, education, the environment, power, water and ports, he explained.
Oliver Cornock, who had recently spent 18 months working in the Kingdom, outlined the many factors that made investing in Saudi Arabia such an attractive proposition today.
Mr Cornock stressed the new opportunities in areas like telecoms and aviation following liberalisation of those sectors. For example, two budget airlines had been launched in the Kingdom recently.
A sixth consecutive budget surplus enjoyed by the Kingdom was enabling it to embark on major investment projects. Another healthy sign was the fact that non-oil exports were increasing although they remained relatively small at present.
Opportunities for exporters, importers, investors and service providers were now vast,
Mr Cornock explained, because participation by foreign players was regarded as essential to the development of the country’s private sector.
SAGIA had been dynamic in leading the reform drive since its foundation in 2000 and its efforts were now bearing fruit with the new sectors that were opening up to foreign investors.
The next speaker, David Budge, of Training Systems Design Ltd, a member company of the A-BCC, provided an informed perspective from that of an SME with many years of experience working in the Kingdom, mainly in the education and training sectors. He gave a “reality check” for companies seeking to enter the market, but offered encouragement to those serious about doing business there because of the enormous opportunities that were available.
Mr Budge’s practical advice included making use of the services of organisations
like UKTI and the A-BCC which he found particularly useful.
He stressed the importance of visiting the market regularly and in learning about the
business culture before embarking.
The final speaker was Lena Atmani, regional manager of Intertek, an international provider of quality control and security services for exporters. The company was thanked for sponsoring the Export Club.