Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr. Majed Al-Qasabi emphasized on Thursday that the challenges facing the world at present warranted the Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates to redouble their efforts to continue opening up and create the favorable trading and investment environment to take advantage of the expansion requirements in the global market.

Al-Qasabi made the remarks while inaugurating the second Saudi-UAE Economic Forum in Riyadh, which was attended by officials and representatives of government agencies and investors from both the countries.

“I am confident that the work of this forum will contribute to the development of initiatives that will help deepen the cooperation between the two countries in all fields based on the principles of equality and balance in the exchange of benefits and serving common interests,” he said.

Al-Qasabi stressed that the distinguished bilateral relations in all fields derive their strength from the excellent ties that bind the two countries and their good leaderships.

“The vision of the two countries is aimed at achieving sustainable growth and diversified economy so as to emerge as one of the world’s major economies, and has contributed to opening up wider areas of the private sector as an important partner for the economy and a major engine of employment and a source of prosperity and progress of the country,” he said.

For his part, Minister of Economy of UAE Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri underscored the strength of bilateral relations between the two countries, especially in the economic field.

“Over the past years there have been great strides in uniting energies and enhancing integration, thanks to the unlimited support from the wise leaderships of the two countries,” he said.

Sultan noted that Saudi Arabia ranks first among the largest trading partners of UAE in the Arab world and holds the fourth position at the global level, accounting for about 5 percent of the UAE’s non-oil trade with the world.

“The total foreign non-oil trade between the two countries achieved a new jump of 11 percent in 2017 over the previous year, recording more than 79 billion dirhams ($21.5 billion), noting that during the first half of 2018, the total trade exchange between the two countries reached nearly 40 billion dirhams.

The forum concluded after witnessing bilateral Saudi-UAE meetings that discussed investment opportunities in various sectors including trade and industry, technology, consulting and media, banking and financial services, food security and the energy sector.