JEDDAH — A 14-companies multisector business delegation from Northern Ireland is on a 5-day visit (May 10 –15) to Jeddah and Al-Khobar to showcase the region's strengths in terms of products and knowhow and expand its already influential contribution to the economic and infrastructural development of the Kingdom. Members of the delegation, headed by Mission Leader of the regional business development agency Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) Noel Johnson, had an opportunity to display their wide range of products in the manufacturing, transportation, medical and education sectors during a networking reception at the British Consulate General. Johnson said: “Invest NI's role is to support regional businesses to compete internationally and our efforts on the Saudi market have been so far extremely successful. Our region has tripled its exports to Saudi Arabia in the last three years raising their value from £40 million to £120 million.” “This is the result of our strong commitment to Saudi Arabia. In the past 5 years, Invest NI accompanied several missions to the Kingdom and many of the companies that are part of the current delegation have already established solid and long-term relations with Saudi partners.” The broad range of business sectors represented by the members of the delegation share the common objective of addressing some of the Kingdom's development priorities particularly in the fields of education and infrastructure. Representatives from the Colleges of Northern Ireland, a membership body comprising all of Northern Ireland's Further and Higher Education Colleges, are particularly keen in looking for partnerships with Saudi educational institutions and private companies. International Manager of Belfast Metropolitan College Ned Cohen said: “We came as a group to exploit our collective strength. We are very good in promoting employability and entrepreneurship and like to work close with small businesses to help them innovate. We support a number of industry partners and do our best to offer them whatever they need in terms of training.” Ready to launch huge transport infrastructure projects, Saudi Arabia is also attracting a number of companies, like ‘Wrightbus International Ltd', which design and manufacture public transport vehicles. Representative of ‘Wrightbus International Ltd' Charles Goodier said: “Saudi Arabia is looking for buses, trams and railway systems to feed its main intra-city and inter-city corridors and we are hoping to be in the forefront of this public transportation expansion process. “Instead of steel, our buses are made of aluminum which is a lighter, more resistant and easier to repair material. So far, we have been very successful in the UK, Ireland, US, Hong Kong and Singapore especially thanks to our use of a hybrid-electric technology that reduces fuel consumption and is more environmentally friendly.” A number of Saudi companies' representatives were present at the networking reception and expressed their interest in Northern Ireland's broad range of products. Chief Information Officer of Almabani General Contractors John C.W. Lincoln said: “Northern Ireland and in general European companies are usually very good and well organized. We deal with around 300 European companies to get the right expertise for our infrastructure projects. “In addition to Wrightbus International, other interesting products for us are ‘Caterpillar Ltd''s fuel-efficient diesel and gas generator sets manufactured to the highest UK standards.” Faisal Baassiri, a practicing lawyer who has recently become the Saudi partner of leading UK-based International Law Firm Ashurst, also expressed his appreciation for this kind of initiatives. He said: “I'm here to support commercial relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia, to do networking for my clients and find qualitative businesses for them. Northern Ireland's mission also comprises competitive companies that are already well established in the Kingdom. These include ‘H & J Martin Ltd', a leading multifaceted service organization taking care of Panda supermarkets' buildings' maintenance in Jeddah, Riyadh and Makkah, ‘Randox Laboratories Ltd', a leading diagnostic manufacturing corporation, ‘Greenfields Ireland Ltd', an international dairy trading company supplying dairy ingredients to Saudi companies Almarai and Luna and ‘Typerite Ltd,' a company that manufactures a large range of printing consumables. Other companies include ‘Anaconda Equipment International Ltd', leader in mobile crushing, screening and materials handling, ‘Boomer Industries', manufacturers of plastic extrusions, ‘SDC Traileres Ltd', manufacturers of trailers for the haulage and agriculture industry, ‘Mallaghan Engineering Ltd' suppliers of ground support equipment for the aviation industry and ‘Ulster Weavers Home Fashions Ltd', designers and manufacturers of giftware products and household textiles.
