On the sidelines of the Gulf tour initiated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip from Saudi Arabia, which he described as “one of the most important countries in the region”, the meeting of the Saudi-Turkish Business Council was held in Jeddah, initiated by Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih, stressing that the Kingdom’s goals in the construction sector within the Saudi Vision 2030 provide strong investment opportunities for Turkish companies, in light of the volume of annual spending on the sector, which amounts to $170 billion and looking to reach $215 billion by 2030.
The meeting was initiated by Falih, who stressed that Vision 2030 came to establish a new phase in all aspects of life in the Kingdom.
He pointed out that other sectors such as hospitality, industrial equipment, food industries and mining also represent promising opportunities for the private sector in Türkiye, whether independently, or through partnerships with Saudi companies.
In his speech, the Saudi minister stressed that the targets for new investments in the Kingdom by 2030 reach $3.3 trillion in all sectors, which represents huge opportunities for local and foreign companies.
“One of the most prominent features of the vision is the keenness to involve the Saudi and foreign private sector, including the private sector from Türkiye,” Falih added.
He said that the goal is to expand investments inside and outside the Kingdom, pointing out that the integration of the capabilities of the Saudi and Turkish private sectors will achieve greater opportunities.
Al-Falih pointed out that the Kingdom constitutes 60 percent of the Gulf food market, expecting the Gulf food market to grow to $65 billion annually in 2030.
Revealing that 1,140 Saudi companies operate in Türkiye, Falih said the tourism sector in the Kingdom will add 300,000 in the hospitality field.
Read: $5 bn deposited by Saudi into Türkiye’s Central Bank
Bulat
In his speech, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bulat said that it was necessary to work on promoting investment and trade between the two countries, and “we are able because of the strong relations between us.”
“We pledge to always work to open roads for you in order to reach our goals of sustainable development and required trade relations,” he added.
He pointed out that the free trade agreement is important for the interests of the two countries, and said that “Türkiye and the Kingdom are two countries that have enough energy to strengthen relations and work to develop all cultural, commercial, cultural sectors, and industry and everything else we plan on.”
“In the event of the signing of the free trade agreement, it will be smooth going between the Kingdom and Türkiye because there are already many agreements between Türkiye and foreign markets,” he said.
He stressed that “it is necessary to have incentives for investments and work needed to determine taxes on both sides, as this will work to motivate businessmen and investors.”
He said that “Saudi has investments in Türkiye beginning with 2 billion dollars or more, “and these figures confirm the confidence of our Saudi brothers in Türkiye and we await you in Türkiye.”
“We have a lot of experience in contracting and artificial intelligence (fields)… Also, as for Red Sea projects, it is necessary to know the opportunities that we can take advantage of there.”
Bulat announced a few days ago that the volume of trade exchange between his country and Saudi Arabia amounted to $3.4 billion in the first half of 2023, noting that the volume of trade exchange reached $6.5 billion in 2022, and continues with increasing momentum in 2023.
“Our goal is to raise mutual trade to $10 billion in the short term and $30 billion in the long term,” he said.
The volume of trade is still small compared to what is hoped between the two countries. The Turkish government indicated in March that bilateral trade between the two countries would aim to reach about $10 billion a year in the coming years.
In June, Aramco met with about 80 of Türkiye’s largest construction companies in an effort to award contracts in the kingdom worth up to $50 billion, Bloomberg reported.
Last week, the Saudi-Turkish Business Forum was held in Istanbul, where 16 cooperation agreements were signed between the Saudi side and Turkish companies in the fields of real estate development, construction, engineering consultancy and a number of other investment sectors worth more than 2.3 billion riyals.
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