H.E. the Minister of Commerce and Investment, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi met with H.E. Portuguese Economy Minister, Manuel Calera Cabral. During the meeting, they discussed boosting trade and investment cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Portugal.
Heading the Kingdom's delegation, participating in the meetings of the Saudi-Portuguese Joint Committee in Lisbon, H.E. Dr. Al-Qasabi held bilateral meetings with the Secretary of State for Internationalization, Mr. Yuriko Diach, and the Chairman of the Portuguese Foreign Trade Commission, Mr. Luis Castro.
H.E. the Minister affirmed that the Saudi-Portuguese Joint Committee will contribute to creating great opportunities for cooperation, and would increase the volume of trade and investment exchange between the two countries, as well as creating value-added partnerships, all that for the realization of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
The Portuguese side confirmed that the Portuguese companies are very interested to have direct investment in the Kingdom, and they are looking forward to enter the Saudi market. Notably, the last five years witnessed an increase of the Portuguese companies investing in the Saudi market, the number has been raised from 200 to 500 companies, investing in several sectors.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Portugal signed a protocol of cooperation between Lisbon Port Authority and the General Authority for Saudi Ports, aiming at mutual cooperation, exchange of expertise and technical resources in the fields related to port operation and various activities, including port information systems, safety, environment, investment models, port statistics, performance indicators and exchange of information.
It is noteworthy that the volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Portugal reached SR (2792) million riyals in 2016 AD.