After the French came the Welsh for more trade cooperation and business development amid an unprecedented economic boom in the Kingdom. International Business Wales (IBW) has recently visited Jeddah on a Trade Mission. A welcome reception in its honor was held at the British Consulate General. IBW brought a diverse delegation of nine companies to the Kingdom, headed by Vice President of IBW (Middle East), Lee Jennings, who visited Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to underline Wales' intention to build stronger ties with the Kingdom and the region. Welsh companies from different industries will be regularly visiting Jeddah to meet with leading local companies, government officials and the Jeddah and Riyadh Chambers of Commerce and Industry to promote bilateral trade relations. “Saudi Arabia has been a very consistent trading partner for us. And for the last five-six years, it has been in top three trading partners list,” said Jennings. “We are also looking for trade and investment between the investors of Wales and Saudi Arabia,” Jennings said. Wales is a successful multicultural society with a highly-skilled workforce, he said. There is a lot of attraction for the Saudi businessmen in Wales, in order to bring a wide range of partnerships, he added. “Over the past 15 years, Wales has experienced broad diversification within its economy, and as a result has seen dramatic growth in its business sectors. The country is now firmly placed on the map as a leading provider of quality UK products and services to the GCC countries,” he said. The Trade Mission wanted to show this quality to Saudi Arabian businesses and consumers, and to demonstrate that they can deliver the very best to a region. IBW said it would make it possible for Welsh companies, to both explore and expand their business opportunities in the Gulf and wider Middle East. To date IBW has assisted over 400 Welsh enterprises enter and set up operations in the Middle East, it said. In Saudi Arabia alone, Welsh companies registered over US$306m worth of imports during 2006 and 2007, a number that is set to rise after the expected success of IBW's current and future trade missions. Cecille L. Beleiti, head of UK Trade & Investment at the British Consulate-General, said that it is a good opportunity for Saudi businessmen to meet IBW delegation that has a wide range of companies from business sectors including education and training, agriculture and farming, construction, oil and gas and chemical and petrochemical industries. The Trade Mission leaders are also here to see that how Welsh businesses can work closely with partners in the Kingdom to provide high-quality skills, and services, she added. Currently there are approximately 500 international companies already based in Wales, including 180 from the US, over 50 Japanese and more than 200 organizations from the European Union. In the past 25 years alone almost 1,500 companies have invested a total of US$26 billion into Wales. __
