The South African Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mr Sadiq Jaffer, encouraged the South African business delegation to expand their global footprint and start building relationships with their Saudi Arabian counterparts.
Ambassador Jaffer was speaking at the South Africa-Riyadh Chamber of Commerce Business Forum held in Riyadh today. The business forum is part of the three-day Outward Selling Mission activities organised by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) in Saudi Arabia.
Ambassador Jaffer said there was a new market for small enterprises and emerging exporters who wanted to do business in Saudi Arabia. This could be in the form of cooperatives, collectively supplying the volumes and quantities that would be required for the Saudi market.
“Saudi Arabia is an economic leader in the Middle East, and is constantly growing in different sectors which then make it more attractive to invest in. There are great opportunities for South African businesses to look into, and invest in different projects especially the current Saudi government infrastructure programme,” said Jaffer.
Jaffer cited agro-processing, agriculture, high-end manufacturing, safety and security, and mining exploration as some of the sectors that can be explored in the country. The recent Infrastructure and projects forum held in Riyadh detailed various projects and opportunities currently available in Saudi Arabia.
“Our trade relations with the country is also growing, and platforms such as the Outward Selling Mission make it possible for us to be in constant contact with our government counterparts and expand on trade issues,” added Jaffer.
Tomorrow the business delegation will attend various site visits in Riyadh in order to engage with companies on a one-to-one basis, and later will travel to Kuwait on the second leg of the Outward Selling Mission.
Saudi Arabia is South Africa’s largest trading partner and second largest export destination in the Gulf region. In 2012 total bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to R61.7 billion.
Ambassador Sadiq Jaffer with the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Trade head of the International Division Mr Mansour Al-Ajmi.
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