Envoy Urges Saudi Businessmen to Invest in Indonesia

The Secretary General of the Eastern Province's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdulrahman Bin Abdullah Al-Wabil has affirmed the strength of the trade partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. He expressed his aspirations to strengthen further this partnership through an organization of a marketing exhibition in the province for Indonesian products and highlighting investment opportunities in both countries. He made these remarks during a meeting with Indonesian Commercial Attache Abdulrahman Dodonj at the Chamber's headquarters in Dammam. Al-Wabil pointed to the strong relationship between the two countries and said this has contributed to increasing the Kingdom's imports from Indonesia to $ 1.17 billion in 2010 compared $ 986 million in 2009, noting that Saudi exports to Indonesia amounted to $4.33 billion last year as against $ 3.31 billion in 2009. He said the Kingdom has a substantial investment in Indonesia, adding that this is concentrated mainly in the sectors of infrastructure, food processing, telecommunications, tourism and hospitality sectors, which is estimated at $ 12 billion. He also disclosed that the Saudi Telecom Company owns 51% of the company Natrindo Telecom-Indonesia. For his part, the Commercial Attache called on the businessmen in the eastern Province to visit Saudi Exhibition for Agro-Food, which will be held in Riyadh in September as it will have participation of 5 Indonesian companies. He also invited companies in the Eastern Province to participate in a trade fair to be held in Jakarta in October. The envoy affirmed that Indonesia is one of the favorite tourist destination for Saudis in view of its natural beauty. 'The number of Saudi tourists is expected to increase to 80,000 this year compared to 70,000 last year,' he noted.