In order to step up the efforts to attract quality investments to Saudi Arabia’s SEZs, ECZA recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the South African Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) to boost cooperation between the two countries in the field of SEZs. HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, and H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, witnessed the ceremony of exchanging the MoU between the Saudi Minister of Investment, Eng. Khalid A. Al Falih, and the South African Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr. Ebrahim Patel, at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, on October 15, 2022.
ECZA was represented at the signing ceremony by the Director General, SEZ Global Business Partner, Special Economic Zones Affairs, while the South African side was represented by the Director-General of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition.
The MoU aims to exchange experiences and information between the two sides in developing policies and legislation, encouraging the exchange of studies related to exemptions and incentives offered in ECs and SEZs. It also stipulates setting a framework and establishing a joint team to hold workshops and dialogue sessions between the two sides annually, bringing together legislators, manufacturers, logistics companies and investors, as well as developing training programs to exchange experiences with the authorities responsible for SEZs, in addition to working on a framework and action plan for achieving common goals.
These terms were negotiated during the ninth session of the Saudi-South African Joint Committee, which was organized by the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, in cooperation with the Ministry of Investment, “Invest in Saudi” program and the Federation of Saudi Chambers (FSC), and hosted by the South African capital, Pretoria, at the beginning of October.
The MoU was signed in conjunction with the Saudi-South African Investment Forum in Jeddah, in the presence of H.E. Ahmed A. Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism, H.E. Bandar I. Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, and a number of South African ministers. The Forum also saw the participation of many officials from various government agencies and the FSC as well as representatives of the private sector and companies from the two countries.