His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Investment, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, Dr. Majed bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, and His Excellency the Minister of Commerce of the Republic of Djibouti, Mr. Hasan Hamad Ibrahim, have signed today in Riyadh a cooperation program between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Djibouti, aiming at promoting and developing trade exchange and investment.
The meeting is attended by His Excellency the Minister of State for African Affairs, Mr. Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Qattan, H. E. the Governor of the General Investment Authority, Engineer Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Omar, H.E. the Governor of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, Mr. Abdul Rahman bin Ahmed Al-Harbi, and the Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, Dr. Sami bin Abdullah Al-Obaidi, and the delegation Accompanying His Excellency the Minister of Trade of Djibouti.
The two sides are endeavoring to raise and diversify the trade in goods and services in the two countries, besides creating an enabling a suitable environment for investments, exchanging expertise and information in a number of areas, also creating investment opportunities, attracting investment, doing marketing researches, and encouraging joint activities.
The two sides also stressed the importance of the private sector's participation in forums, seminars, workshops, and others for developing commercial and investment activities, as well as organizing inter-trade exhibitions and marketing goods and services.
It is worth mentioning that the volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Djibouti reached 488 million dollars during 2018, and the trade balance is in favor of the Kingdom by $ 390 million dollars, where the Kingdom's exports amount to $ 439 million dollars, while the imports are $ 49 million dollars.