AL-AHSA — Prince Saud bin Naif, emir of the Eastern Province, inaugurated on Monday the new expanded Salwa border crossing with Qatar. The emir witnessed the trial operation of the passenger section at the new border facility. The border crossing has been expanded by four times of its previous capacity and now it can accommodate 12,000 cars in each direction per day. The capacity of vehicles per day before the completion of the expansion works stood at 3,000. The inaugural ceremony was held in the presence of Governor of Al-Ahsa Prince Saud bin Talal bin Badr, and Director General of Saudi Passports (Jawazat) Lt. Gen. Suleiman Al-Yahya. Speaking on the occasion, Prince Saud highlighted the giant leaps being witnessed by the Kingdom in the development of various sectors. "These have contributed to achieving sustainable development as it was clear and evident in the implementation of many vital projects with a professional touch to become the focus of the world's attention. The new Salwa port would be instrumental in enhancing the movement of vehicles and travelers, in addition to its role in enhancing the volume of trade exchange and economic relations between the two countries," he said. In his speech, Governor of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, Eng. Suhail Abanmi said that the new port will represent an important support for accelerating the movement of vehicles and travelers, apart from its role in enhancing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries. "The new Salwa port project comes as an extension of what the authority seeks to accomplish towards achieving one of the most important objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 by transforming the Kingdom into a global logistics platform that exploits its strategic location linking the three continents of Africa, Asia and Europe, by developing the infrastructure of land ports in the Kingdom." He emphasized that the authority has worked on a number of strategic partnerships with entities in the public and private sectors, relying on the best practices in the design, development and operation of the port infrastructure, and thus contributing to strengthening the Kingdom's economy and facilitating all land transit operations between the Kingdom and its neighboring countries. Salwa port is one of the most important border land ports in the Kingdom, and it witnesses the exchange of goods and the transit of individuals between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Its importance is now increasing with the FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar from November, as it will be an important link for the transit of travelers from all over the world. It is noteworthy that the Salwa border post reopened in January 2021 after a gap of three and a half years. Saudi Arabia had shut its side of Qatar's only land border in June 2017 as part of a series of sanctions imposed against the tiny Gulf country. The travel and trade restrictions on Qatar were imposed by Saudi Arabia along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. The Gulf Summit held in January 2021 decided to lift the restrictions.
