Governor of Riyadh Inaugurates the largest Trade Fair for more than 30 OIC Member States Tomorrow Evening
Under the kind patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, may Allah bless him, His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, governor of Riyadh, inaugurates the 15th OIC Trade Fair on Sunday evening 22.05.2016, with the presence of His Excellency the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Mr. Eyad bin Amin Madani, His Excellency the Director General of the Islamic Centre for development of trade, Mr. AlHasan Ahzein, a number of ministers from Islamic countries, senior officials, businessmen and investors. The 15th OIC Trade Fair is witnessing the participation of more than 30 countries from the Islamic world.
His Excellency the Director General of the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT), Mr. AlHasan Ahzein, expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz for his kind patronage and hosting of the 15th OIC Trade Fair in Riyadh, K.S.A., he also expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Investment for its great efforts in organizing this huge event.
Mr. Ahzein said that the organization of the 15th OIC Trade Fair comes within the resolutions and recommendations issued, regarding the economic cooperation among the OIC Member States, ratified by the Islamic Summit Conferences and the various sessions of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation among OIC Member States (COMCEC) and the Islamic Conferences of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Ahzein explained that the organization of the fifteenth session of this Trade Fair is based on the Resolution No. B / 31 issued by the thirtieth session of the OIC Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC), held in Istanbul during 25-28 November, 2014, which welcomed the offer made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting the 15th OIC Trade Fair in 2016, which is being organized by the Ministry of Commerce and investment in Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with the Islamic Centre for development of trade, and under the kind patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, may Allah bless him, during the period 22-26 May, 2016 at Riyadh international Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Mr. Ahzein pointed out that some activities will go in line with the said Trade Fair, such as: the Second Session of the Forum for the development of trade among OIC Member States on 23 May, 2016; Agencies Forum for promotion of investment among OIC Member States on 24 May, 2016, Bilateral Meetings among businessmen (B2B ), 9th Forum of OIC businesswomen, organized by the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in collaboration with the Council of Saudi Chambers; the Awards Ceremony and Granting Certificates of Appreciation to the best pavilions in the 15th OIC Trade Fair, 25 May, 2016. The Awards will be granted according to the following criteria: Space reserved, quality of the exhibits, the number of exhibitors, members of the trade delegation and the continuity of participating in the Trade Fair.
Meanwhile, Mr. Turki Al Toaimi, adviser of H.E. Minister of Commerce and Investment and General Supervisor of Marketing and Communication, explained that Saudi Arabia tops the 15th OIC Trade Fair with the largest pavilion, including a large number of Saudi companies and establishments to display and offer a lot of goods and products made in Saudi Arabia, adding that some of these goods and products reached the global markets, he said that the Kingdom seeks to increase its trade and investment with the Islamic countries. Al Toaimi expected that the said Trade Fair will witness the signing of a number of agreements and deals among some companies and countries participating in this Trade Fair.
MR. Al Toaimi confirmed that the 15th OIC Trade Fair gives a great chance for businessmen and private institutions and companies to find numerous opportunities for cooperation in various fields, such as finding new markets for their products and services, establishing joint ventures, providing funding for intra-regional trade, identifying business opportunities for industrial projects and expanding trade exchange among OIC member states.
Mr. Al Toaimi added that the 15th OIC Trade Fair aims to introduce products, industries and services of the OIC member states, as well as to raise the level of trade exchange and to promote the intra-regional investment among the member states, also to deepen the cooperation bonds in various economic fields among member states, beside identifying the investment and trade opportunities in the hosting country, in addition to opening new markets for products and industries of OIC countries, more over promoting trade activities between OIC member States and the hosting country.
On the sidelines of the said Trade Fair, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Islamic Chamber, will organize the 9th Forum for Businesswomen in the Islamic countries on Wednesday evening, 25 May, 2016 at the headquarters of the Council of Saudi Chambers in Riyadh.
The Forum will address the institutional role for the promotion of investment opportunities through the private sector in the Islamic countries, as well as to promote and empower the women`s role in the Islamic countries, also holding bilateral meetings (B2B), where some women from the Islamic Chamber, Federation of GCC Chambers, Federation of Arab Chambers, Islamic Bank and the Economic Committee of the Consultative (Shurah) Council, will participate and deliver speeches.
According to the report issued by OIC Islamic Center for Development of Trade (ICDT) on the developments and update of the OIC intra-regional trade, the said report mentioned that the economy of OIC zone is linked with the global one, and it is affected with the fluctuation of the basic commodities prices and the currency rate, in addition to the direct flow of foreign investments inside the said zone (OIC & Development Partners).
The report mentioned that the value of trade exchange among OIC Member States has been rising since the implementation of the ten-year program (2005-2015), where the value increased from $ 271.45 billion US dollars in 2005 to $ 878 billion US dollars in 2015, with an increase of 223%. The report mentioned as well that despite the impact of the global economic crisis, the OIC Member States usually intensify their trade exchanges, motivated by the geographical proximity, activation of bilateral and regional agreements, similarity of consumption habits, the regional integration, the efforts of promoting trade, financing of trade, provision & insurance of exports, facilitation of trade by the Group of Consultation to promote OIC intra-regional trade and activating the new strategy of the COMCEC. The report mentioned that the OIC intra-regional trade exchange has been increased among OIC Member States from 15.50% in 2005 to 19.78% in 2015, recording an increase of 28%.
Referring to the fact that with the expiry of the OIC Ten-Year Program (2005-2015), which aims, at its economic side, to promote the intra-regional trade among the Member States to reach 20% of the total trade volume, the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and its affiliated institutions have rushed to put a new ten-year program for OIC (2016-2025), which aims to promote intra-regional trade of OIC Member States, so that to reach 25% of the total trade volume by 2025.
It is also mentioned that to achieve this goal, within the time limits, is possible and faraway of being impossible, due to the enormous potentials abounded in the Islamic world, especially if the ongoing trade negotiations have witnessed a significant progress, and particularly if more countries joined to this convention as soon as possible.
On Saudi Arabia trade with the Islamic countries, the report pointed out that Saudi Arabia is one of the most important countries, which has integration and distinguished activity in OIC intra-regional trade in 2014, and it does occupy the third rank in the list of the active countries in OIC intra-regional trade, where the United Arab Emirates has reached the value of $ 121, 7 billion U.S. Dollars, equivalent to 15.2% of the intra-regional trade, followed by Turkey $ 77.8 billion US dollars, equivalent to 9.7%, and then Saudi Arabia $ 74.3 billion US dollars, equivalent to 9.3% of OIC intra-regional trade.