The Saudi-Spanish joint committee held the second session in Riyadh, under the chairmanship of His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Investment, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, and H.E. the State Minister of Trade, Maria Luisa Poncella, from the Spanish side.
The joint committee discussed the friendship relations and common interests between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Spain, in accordance with the Joint Cooperation Agreement, signed between the two countries on 22 February 2007 in Madrid.
The two sides discussed the bilateral trade relations and the promotion of trade and economic relations, besides the investment opportunities between the two countries in the fields of commerce, investment, economy, energy, industry, mining, science, technology, water, agriculture, finance, housing and tourism.
The two sides agreed to focus their efforts on increasing the volume of investment in the main sectors of the two countries, besides enhancing the trade and investment cooperation between the business communities, as well as activating the role of the Saudi-Spanish Business Council to play a vital role in the development of trade and investment.
They also stressed the importance of enhancing and boosting the cooperation among the private sectors to exchange visits of business delegations and to identify the export possibilities and investment opportunities at both countries, besides sharing the expertise related to the development of SMEs sector, in the fields of innovation, rehabilitation and enriching the entrepreneurs’ experience.
The two sides discussed as well increasing the Spanish investments in the Kingdom in the fields of industry, also benefiting from the Spanish experience in the field of economic transformation, as well as encouraging the Spanish private companies to invest in the mining field in the Kingdom.
The two sides also reviewed the volume of trade exchange between the two friendly countries and expressed their desire to enhance and boost the trade exchange and to exert joint efforts to expand and diversify the trade products between the two countries. They affirmed their commitment to support the new initiatives, aiming at identifying possible mechanisms to facilitate and ease trade exchange. That is by encouraging the exchange of business delegations between the two countries and through participating in the economic events held in both countries.
Meanwhile, the Spanish side hailed and praised the current economic reforms undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to diversify the economy and to have an economy not depending only on oil. The Spanish side expressed the interest in participating in the programs and initiatives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, besides encouraging the mutual investments and partnership between the private and public sectors, also taking part in the privatization of services and the public sector in the Kingdom, in addition to the Spanish companies’ participation in the new Saudi mega-projects.
The Spanish delegation praised the increase of Spanish companies, as a long-term partner, in Saudi Arabia, expressing the Spanish keenness to share in the realization of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, so that a safe and legally reliable investment environment could be achieved.