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The Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies will today leave for Saudi Arabia to co-chair the 6th session of South Africa (SA)/ Saudi Arabia Joint Economic Commission (JEC) with his Saudi counterpart Dr Twafeeq Al Rabeeach.

JEC is an initiative agreed upon between the two countries in order to strengthen economic ties, to attract foreign direct investment from Saudi Arabia into South Africa in targeted sectors and to promote sound business-to-business cooperation.

Minister Davies says the JEC will be preceded by the South Africa-Saudi Arabia Business Forum that will be attended by business people from both countries.

Davies says although South Africa’s exports to Saudi improved last year, trade deficit is still in their favour.

“South Africa’s exports to Saudi Arabia showed an increase from R2, 6 billion in 2013 to R4, 7 billion in 2014, reflected by an annual growth of 80.62% in 2014. The export trend with an average growth of 20.42% from 2010 to 2014 was overcome by a strong upward import trend that recorded a continuous increase in imports at an average growth of 39.22% in the same period. South Africa’s imports showed a sharp increase from R23, 6 billion in 2010 to R77,3 billion in 2014,” says Minister Davies.

During the 5th session of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC), both countries expressed their satisfaction with the significant growth of the trade and agreed to utilize all means to enhance further growth.

The meeting agreed promoting and developing aspects of co-operation in the fields of oil, gas and minerals through participation in conferences and specialised seminars in both countries.

The two sides finalised a draft of a Technical Co-operation Program (TCP) between the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organisation (SASO) and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS).

South African delegation includes Senior government officials and Business people.

Issued by DTI