Doga - Beth:

The Federation of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized today, Wednesday in Doha, the activities of the Saudi-Qatari Business Forum, with the large participation of government and private agencies and business owners in the two countries, coinciding with the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Defense to the State of Qatar as part of a Gulf tour that includes Oman, the Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The economic discussions focused on joint cooperation opportunities in the economic and investment fields available between the Kingdom and Qatar.

The head of the Federation of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, Ajlan Al-Ajlan, said: "The forum is a distinguished addition in strengthening relations between the two countries, which we hope to reach in the near future to a high degree of integration supported by all the bonds of religion, brotherhood, neighborliness and common economic interests."

He added that although the two countries have components and comparative advantages for economic integration in many industries, the volume of trade exchange is still below ambition, as official Saudi statistics indicate that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to about 1.67 billion Saudi riyals in the third quarter of this year, indicating that Transportation equipment - minerals and chemicals are the most important products exchanged between the two countries.

Al-Ajlan explained that the report of the World Economic Forum 2020 indicates that the ranking of the Kingdom’s economy in global competitiveness reached 36 out of 141 economies, while the Qatari economy ranked 29th, which indicates the strength of the competitiveness of the two countries’ economies at the global level, and accordingly, the responsibility of the private sector increases in Both countries necessitate activating their real role to push the wheel of economic development to its highest levels against what it is today and what we hope for in the future.

 Al-Ajlan expressed his aspirations to re-form and activate the Saudi-Qatari Business Council to work on converging views and exchanging information on investment opportunities between the two countries, especially that there are many opportunities included in both the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and Qatar National Vision 2030 that business owners in the two countries can invest in. An example of this is food and drug production, logistics services, technology services, digitization, and other promising opportunities that ensure the diversity and competitiveness of the two economies and raise their standard of living.

For his part, the First Vice-President of Qatar Chamber, Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Tawar al-Kuwari, said that the forum brings together elite Qatari and Saudi business owners and are looking forward to exploring new horizons for joint cooperation among them, and opening new channels for effective partnership between companies from both sides, hoping that the meeting will contribute to achieving more. From growth and development in trade and economic relations to achieve the hopes and aspirations of the two brotherly countries.

Al-Kuwari stressed that the two countries have strong and distinguished relations of cooperation, hoping that these relations will return stronger than before, as the volume of trade exchange between the two countries during the first nine months of this year 2021 amounted to about 386 million Qatari riyals, which is an encouraging start after the interruption that occurred in In recent years, despite the repercussions of the Corona virus.

Al-Kuwari believes that it is important to work together to intensify visits in the coming period, increase coordination and cooperation between Qatar Chamber and the Federation of Saudi Chambers, in addition to activating the work of the Qatari-Saudi Business Council with the aim of expanding cooperation between the private sector, stimulating trade and creating new investment opportunities, revealing that Qatar Chamber encourages, supports and looks forward to strengthening cooperation between Qatari and Saudi companies and establishing effective partnerships and economic and commercial alliances, whether in Qatar or in the Kingdom in all fields.

In addition, the meeting witnessed the signing of a number of agreements between Saudi and Qatari companies in the hospitality and tourism sectors.