The Saudi-Portuguese Joint Committee has held its 4th Ministerial Meeting today in Lisbon. H.E. The Minister of Commerce and Investment, Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, headed the Kingdom's delegation, while the Portuguese delegation is headed by H.E. Dr. Josi Alberto Alzirado López, Minister of National Defense. The meeting was attended by members of the two delegations, government officials and businessmen from both countries.
H.E. Dr. Majid Al Qasabi delivered a speech, through which he affirmed the efforts and endeavors of the governments of the two countries to enhance cooperation and exert more efforts and continuous follow-up to implement the recommendations of the Saudi-Portuguese Joint Committee.
H.E. said "Both of us look forward to enhance cooperation between our two friendly countries in all fields, since both sides have got great potentials, and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 presents promising opportunities as well. Therefore, we must exert all efforts to translate these opportunities into reality, also we should work hard to avail of the such promising opportunities relevant to enterprises, joint ventures and investments. "
The Portuguese side expressed the desire of the Portuguese companies to identify and to get an idea about the opportunities available in the Kingdom Vision 2030, especially in the vital sectors such as technology, infrastructure, environment, renewable energy and tourism.
The two sides stressed the importance of boosting bilateral trade and investment flows between the two countries. They also highlighted the importance of the reforms adopted in the Kingdom, based on the Kingdom Vision 2030, and the National Transformation Program 2020. They agreed to create more opportunities for strengthening the joint cooperation between the two countries, including the private sector.
The two sides also expressed their common interest in developing and boosting the joint cooperation among the private sectors in Saudi Arabia and Portugal. Businessmen from both sides discussed setting up joint enterprises and exchange of trade, economic and investment information. This is during the meeting between the Saudi and Portuguese businessmen in conjunction with the joint committee meetings.
Both sides agreed to enhance the visits of specialized delegations and investors in various sectors that have mutual interests. The two delegations expressed the desire to boost and enhance bilateral trade and investment in all sectors.
Cooperation was also discussed related to entrepreneurship, developing small and medium enterprise, and the importance of exchanging and sharing the best adopted methods of innovation and business development.
It is worth mentioning that the volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Portugal reached in 2016 SR (2792) million riyals, Saudi Arabia ranked 16 as exporter to Portugal in 2016, while Portugal ranked 43 as exporter to the Kingdom.
The bilateral trade between the two countries grew significantly during the period from January to September 2016, witnessing an increase of 26.5%. This is the same for 2017.