The Minister of Finance Mohammed Al Jadaan heads the Saudi delegation participating in Saudi-German Joint Commission Meetings in its twentieth session on 17 and 18 December 2019 in Berlin. The German delegation will be led by Mr. Peter Altmaier, Minister of Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. In his opening speech to the commission 's meetings, the Minister of Finance pointed out that these meetings are expected to progress the historical relations which have linked the two countries for more than 90 years, as "they underline our eagerness to enhance economic relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Germany hoping this session will develop cooperation in accordance with both countries aspirations." "The Kingdom and Germany have a lot in common, the Kingdom's economy is the largest in the Middle East and North Africa and Germany is the largest economy in the European Union. Further, Both the Kingdom and Germany are influential members in G20, which the Kingdom currently presides over. On that basis, we can work together to support G20's efforts to achieve the aspirations of the people and raise growth rates in addition to discussing opportunities for trade between our two countries." His Excellency added. Moreover, Al Jadaan noted that" The Kingdom is the second largest Arab trading partner to Germany, which points out the importance of the German market to the Saudi economy as one of the five major industrial countries in the world and the fourth largest exporter to the Kingdom. His Excellency touched upon the Saudi-German Business Forum, which will be held in conjunction with Saudi-German Joint Commission Meetings, expressing his hope that it will contribute to ways of cooperating by signing MoUs and agreements, particularly those related to renewable energy sources, development programs, climate change, digital transformation, scientific research and development. On the results of structural reforms that the Kingdom conducted throughout the past four years, the Minister said "The Kingdom worked, under the guidance of Vision 2030, on a range of financial and economic reforms that seek to make comprehensive changes to the Saudi economy creating a great developmental shift in both the medium and long term. These reforms contributed to significant increase in consumption and private investment growth rates during the first half of 2019. During the past months, economic indicators showed continuous improvement of economic performance, as the Kingdom has stepped up its efforts to develop and improve the business climate, local content development and enhance the competitiveness of the economy to improve the ranking of the Kingdom in many international indicators." Minister Al Jadaan stressed the importance that activation of trade and investment should be based on exploiting available opportunities in sectors of common interest such as industry, mining, technology, tourism, entertainment, financial sector, construction of mega projects, health services and renewable energy. Moreover, we hope that the relationship between the two countries will soon be an exemplar in the near future in terms of international cooperation and trade." It is said that number of German investments in the Kingdom reached 189 up to the end of July 2019 with paid-up capital of approximately SAR 17.5 Billion, where industrial investment accounts for about 71% (33 companies) out of German investment in the Kingdom, followed by investment in services sector by 26%.
