Trade and investment between MalaysiaSaudi Arabia to improve further
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is confident that economic and trade relations, as well as, twoway investment between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia will improve further in the future.
This is especially so after the visit of Saudi Arabia's King Salman and the signing of the new partnership between Petronas and Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco).
“Moreover, during the visit, we signed a large number of memorandums of understanding between private sector companies in both countries worth more than RM9 billion.
“This is evidence of a great desire on both sides to increase business volume and strengthen economic ties,” he said in a recent interview with Al Arabia News Channel general manager Turki Aldakhil.
Najib was asked on the cooperation between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Prime Minister said total trade todate between Malaysia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) amounted to RM45 billion, with United Arab Emirates ranking first in trade exchanges followed by Saudi Arabia.
The GCC groups Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Meanwhile, King Salman led a 600-member powerful entourage to Malaysia from Feb 26 to March 1, 2017 as part of his month-long Asian tour which also included visits to Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China, the Maldives and Jordan.
The visit to Malaysia was reported to have yielded RM40 billion in potential investments with the biggest chunk coming from Petronas-Aramco share purchase agreement worth RM31 billion.
Seven Memorandum of Understandings, with an estimated value of RM9.74 billion, were signed between Malaysian and Saudi companies, covering areas such as construction, halal cooperation, aerospace and haj services.
Malaysia already has a strong presence in Saudi Arabia's construction sector with 19 contracts, worth RM18.5 billion, awarded to Malaysian companies, to date.
In terms of trade, total trade between both countries increased by 27.8 per cent to RM14 billion last year from RM11 billion in 2015. — Bernama