Matured Saudi private sector seeks strategic Indian partnerships

Saudi Arabia is looking forward to strategic partnerships with Indian companies. Stating this at an interactive session held by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the visiting Saudi business delegation, Ghassan Ahmed Al-Sulaiman, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "The demands of the matured private sector in Saudi Arabia are now different. We are looking for quality strategic partnerships with Indian companies and not Indian products."

The Saudi business delegation was here in the country on a three-day trip ahead of the scheduled visit of the King of Saudi Arabia to India in January 2006, almost after a gap of 50 years.

Asserting that the private sector in Saudi Arabia was far more matured than during the economic boom in the late 70s, Sulaiman said that the private sector in Saudi Arabia was projected to make a 35 per cent increase in contribution to GDP by the year 2010.