In a ceremony overseen by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and visiting Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq, Saudi Arabia and Oman signed on Sunday an MoU to form a coordination council, further raising the roof of expectations held by industrialists in both countries.
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef stressed the depth of Saudi-Omani relations, adding that Sultan Haitham’s visit to the Kingdom presented a significant opportunity to reinforce shared cooperation and coordination.
Alkhorayef noted that the visit would give a chance to boost joint work between officials in the Kingdom and the Sultanate, especially in the field of expertise exchange that promotes industrial integration between the two countries.
According to the minister, deep ties between the Kingdom and the Sultanate directly impacted promoting unified visions for achieving sustainable development goals and finding promising investment opportunities between the two countries, especially in the industrial and mineral resources sectors.
Alkhorayef also pointed out that, over the last five years, the volume of the Saudi non-oil exports to the Sultanate amounted to more than SAR17 billion ($4 billion).
Also, he noted that the Saudi Industrial Development Fund contributed to financing two joint projects with Oman at a value exceeding SAR90 million ($24 million).
The minister said that the visit of Sultan Haitham to Saudi Arabia presents an opportunity to enhance the cooperation and continuous coordination among officials in the two countries to exchange expertise in legislation, regulations, and industrial experiences to achieve industrial integration between the two countries.
More on Saudi exports, Alkhorayef confirmed that the trade value of exports to the Sultanate amounted to more than SAR3 billion ($800 million) in 2020.
These exports included food products, building materials, petrochemicals and consumer durables.
As for imports from Oman, they included several food products, building materials and minerals at a total value of more than SAR6 billion (over $1.5 billion).
