Turkish president's upcoming Saudi visit to enhance ties

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Saudi Arabia next week will cement bilateral relations, the Saudi minister for municipal affairs and housing said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Türkiye-Saudi Arabia Business Forum in Istanbul, Majed Al Hogail said the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is happy to work with Ankara as it will increase trade and improve the well-being of the people.

"Within the framework of Vision 2030, we want to benefit from the Turkish business world in the fields of contracting, housing development, infrastructure and engineering," he said.

The Vision 2030 aims to reduce the Saudi economy's dependence on oil and diversify the economy with dozens of projects planned for the public service sectors.

"We offer serious opportunities for this, laws and investment support, including bank loans," he said.

"There is huge business potential, we will be happy to see and support Turkish investors here," he said.

He also invited Turkish business people to Riyadh in September for the major real estate expo Cityscape Global.

- $30B target for bilateral trade

Türkiye's Trade Minister Omer Bolat said the two countries' bilateral trade, which was at $6.5 billion last year, reached $3.4 billion in the first half of this year.

The two countries' bilateral trade target is $10 billion for the short term and $30 billion for the long term, he said.

Highlighting their strategic geographical location, he said they are located on the junction of Asia, Europe and Africa, and have a robust infrastructure for conducting business.

"Our exporters are reliable trade partners for Saudi Arabia, our contractors have assumed many projects worth $25 billion so far," he said.

The two countries' priority is expanding the scope of bilateral trade and diversifying products.

Touching on the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, he said Türkiye began discussions with the Gulf Cooperation Council for the FTA.

Nail Olpak, the head of Türkiye's Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), recalled that Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia last year and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the Turkish capital Ankara.

After the visit, he said the ease of doing business increased rapidly.

He said Turkish firms are competitive and could cooperate with their Saudi counterparts in the financing sector.​​​​​​​