Saudi Crown Prince receives Erdogan in Jeddah

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Saudi Arabia and Türkiye signed a number of deals encompassing investment, the defence industry, energy and communications….reports Asian Lite News

Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has received Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Royal Court at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah Monday.

The two nations signed a number of deals encompassing investment, the defence industry, energy and communications.

A warm official reception ceremony was held in honour of the visiting Turkish President after which the Crown Prince and Erdogan held an official session of talks and a bilateral meeting.

The two sides reviewed aspects of bilateral relations, prospects for joint cooperation and opportunities for its development in various fields, in addition to discussing regional and international developments of mutual concern and the efforts exerted towards them, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Erdogan’s visit to Saudi Arabia will be followed by trips to the UAE and Qatar, with business forums taking place in all three countries, with primary agenda on “joint investment and commercial activities with these countries.

“Trade between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia amounted to $6.5 billion last year and reached $3.4 billion in the first half of this year. Türkiye’s trade with all the Gulf states has shot up from $1.6 billion to about $22 billion in the past 20 years. “With business forums to be organized, we will look for ways to move this figure much further,” Arab News quoted Erdogan as saying.

“Türkiye will have serious investment opportunities in the defence industry, infrastructure and superstructure investments in the three countries. In addition, these countries will have the opportunity to purchase certain assets from Türkiye.”

Meanwhile, both MBS and Erdogan have witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral agreements between the two countries.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of energy was signed between Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy and his Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar.

An executive plan for cooperation in the fields of capabilities, defence industries, research and development was signed by Saudi Minister of Defence Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and his Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler.

Both sides also signed a MoU for cooperation in the field of direct investment. From the Saudi side, it was signed by the Minister of Investment Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih. From the Turkish side, President of Investment Office Ahmet Burak Daglioglu.

A MoU for cooperation in the media field was signed by the Minister of Media Salman bin Yousef Al-Dosari and the Türkiye ’s Presidency’s Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun.

Besides, two contracts with the Turkish company Baykar was also signed by Saudi’s Assistant Minister of Defence for Executive Affairs Dr. Khalid bin Hussein Al-Bayari and CEO of Baykar Technology Company Lutfi Haluk Bayraktar.

Trade ties

Over the past three years in addition to May this year, the Kingdom’s exports to Türkiye amounted to SAR 52.280 billion. Plastics, metal products, organic chemical products, steel, precious metals and stones were on top of these exports in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom’s imports from Türkiye totalled SAR 16.787 billion over the past three years besides May with carpets, furniture, prefabricated buildings, machinery, historical and artistic artifacts and stone and cement products being on top of these imports in 2023.

As part of the Saudi-Turkish economic cooperation, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) played a pioneering role in securing concessional financing for a number of development projects and programs in Türkiye over the past three decades.

The two countries seek cooperation with regard to encouraging direct investment, signing an agreement already in this field.

They also established the Turkish-Saudi Business and Investment Forum last December with a focus on highlighting promising cooperation opportunities for Turkish companies in the mega projects that the Kingdom is set to implement within the scope of the Kingdom Vision 2030.

Moreover, the encouraging business environment in the Kingdom has succeeded to attract 390 Turkish companies to invest in the Saudi market with a total capital of SAR 985.6 million.

Turkish companies are active in several sectors in the Kingdom, especially construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and restaurants.

Also, the companies with Saudi capital investing in several sectors in Türkiye have amounted to 1,140 diverse companies with the volume of Saudi investments in Türkiye totalling USD18 billion.

On March 19, 2023, the “Saudi-Turkish Business Forum” was held in Riyadh, with the participation of more than 450 Saudi and Turkish companies and many government agencies in the two countries.

The forum witnessed the signing of three trade cooperation agreements between representatives of the Saudi and Turkish business sectors in localising the industry of welding equipment and supplies, and the manufacture of high-tech trucks and tanks to meet the needs of the transport and contracting market, in addition to the establishment of a joint Saudi-Turkish project in automation and engineering.

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Ashok Parameswar

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