The Council of Saudi Chambers held here Saturday a meeting with Saudi-South African Business Council meeting to discuss ways to strengthen economic and trade relations between the two countries. The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is led by Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Tawfiq Bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah while the South African side is headed by Trade and Industry Minister Dr. Robert Davis. Al-Rabiah stressed the need of continuous meetings of the Joint Committee alternately between the two countries in order to contribute to increasing the volume and quality of the existing trade. The joint committee will examine topics on stimulating the quantity and quality of trade between the two countries, increasing trade delegations and participation in joint exhibitions, the need for goods coming from South Africa to meet Saudi Arabia's standards, speeding up the procedures for activating the defense cooperation between the two countries, calling on South African companies to attain exploration licenses for precious metals and associated minerals in the Kingdom and inviting South African companies to invest in the Saudi mining sector. The two sides will also thresh out exchanging information and expertise between the two countries and cooperation in the field of aqua-culture, scheduling the signing of an agreement on maritime transport between the two countries and cooperation in the fields of ports, railways, higher education, health training, culture, media and other fields. Current bilateral trade reached more than SR19.7 billion in 2011, with SR18.2 billion as Saudi exports and SR1.5 billion as imports.
