RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce, Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, held meetings with ministers and officials of G20 countries in India over the past two days, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Al-Qasabi, who is also chairman of the board of directors at the General Authority of Foreign Trade, held 12 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers’ meeting, which ended on Friday.
The meetings touched on developing relations, and enhancing trade and economic cooperation and investment opportunities, SPA said.
Al-Qasabi met with Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, Korean Minister of Trade Dukgeun Ahn, Indonesian Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, Singaporean Minister of Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, Turkish Minister of Trade Omer Bolat, and Bangladeshi Minister of Commerce Tipu Munshi.
He also held talks with British Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch, Director-General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Argentinian Secretary for International Economic Relations Cecilia Todesca, and Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Development and Industry Marcio Rosa.
During the session on “Trade for Growth and Prosperity and WTO Reforms,” Al-Qasabi reviewed the impact of Vision 2030 reforms on the Saudi economy.
He said the Kingdom’s foreign trade grew by $172 billion in the past year, while the volume of non-oil exports rose by 40 percent between 2018-2022, amounting to $28.7 billion. The value of loans provided by the Saudi Export-Import Bank stood at $4.6 billion.
The minister added that there are now 1.2 million small and medium enterprises in the Kingdom, and that annual growth of e-commerce reached 33 percent between 2016-2022.
Al-Qasabi said the Kingdom has enhanced its competitiveness, as shown by its ranking of second among G20 countries in digital competitiveness, according to the Digital Riser 2021 report. It also ranked sixth among 50 emerging countries in the “Agility” index for emerging markets for 2022.
This year’s G20 meeting will be hosted in India next month under the theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future.”
