JEDDAH, 9 October — Saudi Arabia has ranked highly among the major importing and exporting countries worldwide, according to Ahmad Hamza Omair, deputy minister of commerce for foreign trade.

Inaugurating the annual international trade fair, which marks the Kingdom’s 19th multisectoral expo, held concurrently with Fashion Arabia 2001 at the Jeddah International Exhibition & Convention Center yesterday, Omair said last year Saudi Arabia was the 13th largest merchandise exporting country and the 25th largest importing country in the world.

“The trade volume with our trade partners during the year amounted to SR438 billion, registering a surplus of SR192 billion in favor of the Kingdom. During the same period, the volume of trade in services amounted to SR55 billion. Hence the Kingdom achieved an advanced place among the major importing and exporting countries worldwide,” he added.

Omair said the private sector had actively and effectively participated in the overall development process in the Kingdom and its contributions had greatly developed over years to the extent that its share in the GDP stood at about 40 percent.

On the other hand, the Kingdom had translated its strong support through its endeavors to promote and encourage the initiatives of the private sector.

“It provided the basic infrastructure necessary for capacity building and productive sectors, as well as the regulatory and institutional frameworks with a view to keeping pace with the latest developments,” he said, adding that 20 chambers of commerce and industry had been established throughout the Kingdom.

Also, the Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Export Promotion Center, and national committees on all trade industrial, agriculture and tourist sectors had been constituted.

Furthermore, the Kingdom had adopted a comprehensive policy for economic reforms with a view to enhancing the capacity of the Saudi economy to interact and integrate into the world economy most flexibly and effectively.

These measures would help the Kingdom to keep pace with the rest of the advanced world, make use of the positive effects of globalization and e-commerce, create a favorable climate to deal with resultant legal and behavioral requirements, and meet telecommunications infrastructure needs.

Welcoming national and overseas participants to the five-day fair, organized by Al-Harithy Co. for Exhibitions, he said the expo truly reflected the great progress the exhibition industry had achieved, thus bringing into the Kingdom the international experience and know-how most ably and efficiently.

Omair said the local business community would surely benefit from the interaction of exhibitors, as the Kingdom was one of the major centers for attracting investments and lucrative opportunities aside from being one of the fastest growing and absorptive markets in the world.

Despite recent events that have affected trade globally, there are 17 countries represented in national pavilions and individual company stands at the exhibition. Companies from Thailand represent the largest country group at the fair, with the Chinese pavilion also a very strong company group.