THE Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) recently hosted a delegation of more than 50 representatives from Chinese businesses in SAGIA headquarters in Riyadh, with the aim to highlight recent positive developments led by SAGIA, and implemented by other governmental bodies under the “Tayseer” campaign to enhance the ease of doing business in the Kingdom. Attendees were also introduced to the Ministry of Labor’s regulations as well as the procedure for obtaining business licenses.

The meeting came as both China and Saudi Arabia are presently making significant strides to boost economic ties and enhance bilateral trade and investment. In March, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman visited China where multiple agreements were signed between the two countries valued at $65 billion.

Speaking about the meeting, Ibrahim Al-Suwail, deputy governor of investor services, said: “At SAGIA, we are honored to host representatives from leading Chinese companies in various sectors. It is our aim that we continuously strive to strengthen commercial and investment cooperation between The Kingdom and the People's Republic of China through extending Chinese companies the information, assistance, and opportunity to participate in Vision 2030. Our dialogue with dozens of businessmen today will hopefully be the next step in concluding deals and initiatives in the near future across various fields, such as energy, information technology, transportation and entertainment among others.”

Currently, there are 192 ongoing projects involving Chinese companies in the Kingdom valued at SR9.2 billion. Officials at SAGIA believe, however, this is just the beginning:

“Although we have seen a healthy amount of inward investment from China, we believe this is just the start of a very mutually beneficial relationship with the Chinese business community” Al-Suwail said. “As more opportunities under Vision 2030 are unveiled, SAGIA looks forward to working with an even greater number of Chinese companies to help write the next success story between Saudi Arabia and the People’s Republic of China.”

SAGIA has succeeded recent months weeks in making several economic achievements, including:

• The signing of a joint work program with the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA-Tunisia).

• The signing of 13 memoranda of understanding with a group of local and international investors in the painting and coating sector.

• Granting investment licenses to 23 leading US companies at the Saudi-US CEO Forum, which coincided with the historic visit of US President Donald Trump to the KSA.

• The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) has targeted multiple sectors in China to attract to Saudi Arabia. These include;

o Energy and renewable energy

o Downstream Petrochemicals

o Manufacturing,

o Real estate development and investment,

o Infrastructure and utilities,

o Transportation and logistics,

o Tourism and medical tourism,

o Shopping and entertainment centers. — SG