Muscat: Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) and Saudi Chambers Federation on Sunday held a virtual meeting via videoconferencing during which the two sides discussed means of upgrading the rate of investment opportunities available in the two countries.
The Omani side was led by Eng Ridha Juma al Saleh, Chairman of the OCCI while Ajlan Abdulaziz al Ajlan, Head of Saudi Chambers, led his country’s team.
Eng Ridha underscored the significance of efforts being undertaken to foster economic and commercial cooperation between the private sectors in both countries. His speech also dealt with ways of exchanging expertise and consolidating the efforts of business and economic firms specialized in the two countries’ target sectors and visions, which are Oman Vision 2040 and the Saudi Vision 2030.
Eng Ridha also spoke about statistics and indicators shared by the Sultanate and Saudi Arabia, notably data pertaining to commercial exchange, tourism, commerce and joint investment.
He pointed out that commercial exchange between the two countries comprises 7.32% of the volume of non-oil commercial exchange between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and GCC states during 2020. The value of Saudi investments registered in the Sultanate stands at RO 105 million.
Al Ajlan’s speech focused on the depth of Omani-Saudi strategic economic relations, noting that the Kingdom, in its 2030 vision, seeks to enhance ties with other countries, including Oman and this, he said, affirms the Saudi parties support for the economic drive.
“In this meeting, we strive to expand aspects of cooperation in all economic spheres and study investment and business opportunities available in the two countries’ private sectors,” said Al Ajlan. This, he observed, involves a greater sense of responsibility to be shouldered by both parties with a view to augmenting the volume of commercial exchange to the levels desired to be attained by the private sectors.
The meeting touched on a number of joint economic fields. To this effect, HH Sayyid Faisal Turki al Said, the Sultanate’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, stressed the importance of stimulating economic action. “In the near future, we may sign a number of commercial agreements between the two sides and many of these agreements will deal with the private sectors,” said HH Sayyid Faisal.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Saud al Anzi, KSA Ambassador to the Sultanate, said that the meeting responds to the two countries’ visions of economic development. He underlined the need to devise a joint working plan and a follow-up team to pursue related programmes and initiatives to be floated in business and investment areas.
In his turn, Ali Hamad Al Kalbani, Head of the Oman side at the Oman-Saudi Business Council, said that the business council was formed recently to support the approaches of the two countries’ leaderships and governments on aspects of developing economic partnerships.
Nasser Said al Hajiri, Head of the Saudi side at the Omani-Saudi Business Council, spoke about opportunities for cooperation in the fields of chemical industries and setting up of joint projects to promote cooperation in the logistics sector.
Al Hajiri opined that a proposed Saudi industrial estate proposed to be set up in the Sultanate “should be established along the sea and to focus on converting industries”. He pointed out that Saudi and other GCC investors tap the Sultanate for better investment opportunities and investment attracting incentives, among them the existence of an industrial investments bank, the supply of gas at encouraging prices and the formulation of a coordination team to liaise among investors. --ONA
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