The Saudi-Kyrgyz business forum took place at the Federation of Saudi Chambers (FSC) in Riyadh. The business forum was a faction of the astute leadership’s commands to augment relations between Saudi Arabia and the Kyrgyz Republic.
The Saudi-Kyrgyz business forum
The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Arzybek Kozhoshev, Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Mansour Al-Mushaiti, Saudi Ambassador Ibrahim Al-Radi, FSC Board Member and Chairman of Jeddah Chamber Mohammed Yousuf Naghi, and Kyrgyz Ambassador Ulukbek Maripov, alongside numerous business people from both countries, graced the forum.
At the onset, Kozhoshev applauded the Saudi-Kyrgyz relations, wherein 2022 highlighted the 30th anniversary of setting up diplomatic bonds and Saudi’s backing to implement infrastructure projects on the Kyrgyz Republic.
Kozhoshev discussed the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the economic relations betwixt the two nations and stressed that facilitating an investment ecosystem that lures foreign investors, including Saudi partners, and enhancing mutual commerce, comprises a primary priority for the economic policy in Kyrgyzstan.
Kozhoshev also highlighted that 50 Kyrgyz firms from several sectors were partaking in the Saudi-Kyrgyz forum with a strong will to set up and advance ties with their Saudi Arabian contemporaries. Kyrgyzstan seeks to attract major Saudi firms into numerous renewable energy, science, agricultural, education, telecom, tourism, halal, and cultural industry sectors.
The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan invited Saudi partners to establish operative commercial partnerships amongst entrepreneurs, extending commercial efficiency and investment cooperation and setting up a collaborated business council between the chambers of commerce and industry in the two nations to emerge as a portal of communication amongst private firms in both the countries and deliver the ideal circumstance for their interaction and augment joint ventures.
Kozhoshev also mentioned his country’s economic capacities, principally in the tourism sector, where Saudi citizens can visit Kyrgyzstan without a preapproved visa for a tenure of up to sixty days. He indicated that in 2019, approximately 7,000 Saudis visited his nation. The tourism industry is a basic steerer for Kyrgyz-Saudi investment collaboration.
For his part, Mohammed Yousuf Naghi stated that the meeting was held within the countries’ strategies, which was to extend economic cooperation features and explore commercial and investment prospects available for the two business industries. As a result, the Saudi-Kyrgyz collaboration would augment the retail exchange volume that dropped from SAR 12 million (USD 3.20 million) in 2019 to SAR 4 million (USD 1.07 million) in 2020.
Naghi also underscored the role of the private sector in the Saudi Vision 2030 and the domains that will facilitate prospects for foreign investors in Saudi Arabia. The sectors vastly include renewable energy, tourism, agriculture, transport, healthcare, logistic services, and information and telecommunication technology.
The Chairman of Jeddah Chamber also called for enhancing the exchange of commercial delegations and information on investment prospects and systems, encouraging both sides to hold exhibitions and forums, estimating the coming period to witness an enhanced activity in economic relationships between Saudi and Kyrgyz.
In the meantime, the Investment Promotion and Protection Agency of Kyrgyzstan delivered a presentation on collaborative projects betwixt the public and private sectors that are presently being developed in the country. The presentation lured Saudi business people to join these 21 projects in tourism, sports, logistics, culture, healthcare, roads, education, and transport.
The agency also assessed the investment capacities and ecosystem in the central Asian country, including its five free economic zones that are categorised by low rates of renting lands, exemptions on taxes and custom fees, and easy processes for custom clearance, wherein the energy, agriculture, minerals, tourism, and ICT form major sectors.
As for conducting commercial businesses, the presentation portrayed that value-added tax lies at 12%, profit and income tax lies at 10%, wherein the power cost lies at USD 0.03 per kilowatt, whilst commercial business enterprises are registered within three working days.
The forum also saw the authentication of various deals and memorandums of understanding betwixt the countries’ private and public institutions to augment commercial and investment collaboration in numerous essential economic industries.
Earlier, Kozhoshev and his associated delegation arrived in Riyadh were received by Deputy Minister Al-Mushaiti. The visit came within the skeleton of merging relations, augmenting joint partnership betwixt two nations.
Kozhoshev and his delegation were directed regarding the exhibition, which the ministry is presently organising in Riyadh’s Digital City.