Registration opens for Saudi-French Business Opportunities Forum

The Saudi-French Business Opportunities Forum has started receiving registration applications to participate in the activities of its second session, to be held on October 12-13, 2015 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.

The forum's website,www.saudifrenchforum.com,has registered a high demand from those who want to attend the events and workshops that will be held with the participation of an elite group of senior government officials and experts, economists, investors, businessmen and senior business leaders, researchers and academics from both countries.

The forum has a series of objectives that it aims to meet, particularly creating opportunities for mutual foreign direct investment in major industries and identifying new investment opportunities in the Saudi and French markets.

The forum also has the goal of acting as an enabler for new sustainable trade and industry projects and encouraging medium to large companies from both the Saudi and French markets to establish business relationships. It will develop effective recommendations and initiatives to help facilitate strategic business alliances between organizations in the two markets.

Finally, the forum aims to help develop a knowledge-based society.

The forum will also discuss ways to implement recommendations from the Paris-based meetings that were held by the joint Saudi-French Committee and headed by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industryin October 2014. 

The Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah signed a cooperation agreement in the industrial sector with the French Ministry of Economy and Finance during a recent visit to France held by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense. 

The agreement includes cooperation in the development of industrial exports from the two countries, increasing the volume of trade and exchange of commercial and industrial information available to the two sides, as well as providing expertise with regard to industrial policy and innovation to contribute to the support and increase of the competitiveness of small, medium and emerging enterprises. 

The agreement sets out the policies of industrial clusters that will form the basis of cooperation between the two side for the promotion and development of a knowledge-based economy, facilitates cooperation on organizing exhibitions and conferences earmarked for the marketing of industrial products from both countries, and includes all other means aimed at promoting commercial, industrial and investment relations between the two countries.

The first Saudi-French Business Opportunities Forum was held in Paris on April 10-12, 2013. It was organized by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Council of Saudi Chambers and the Saudi–French Business Council.