Saudi Arabia (Hansard, 27 February 1990)

§ Mr. Peter Walker

I was pleased to be able to visit Saudi Arabia between 5 and 8 February as the guest of Shaikh Hisham Nazer, the Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources. I was accompanied on the visit by a team of Welsh business men and representatives of the university of Wales. In the course of my visit I held productive discussions with leading Saudi Ministers, business men and academics, and I was delighted by the enthusiasm with which we were received.

The business mission was a resounding success and £7 million of orders for Welsh companies have already been secured, with a further £2.5 million anticipated in the immediate future, and the prospect of more to come thereafter. Three joint venture partnerships with Saudi companies have also been identified; and some 50 inquiries for the supply of products, offers of distributorship and supply partnerships have been made by Saudi businesses, which are being channelled to appropriate Welsh and United Kingdom companies.

Following my meeting with the Saudi Minister for Education and visits by the university of Wales representatives to Saudi universities and higher education establishments, new and valuable academic links between Wales and Saudi Arabia have been forged. We anticipate formal co-operation agreements between the university of Wales and the King Saud university and the King Fahd university of petroleum and minerals. This will lead to significantly more Saudi students studying in Wales and an expansion of staff and student interchanges.

I suggested reciprocal visits to Wales by the principals of the five Saudi colleges of agriculture and by a mission of Saudi business men and I am glad to say that both these invitations were enthusiastically accepted.

This has been one of the most successful missions from Wales and is further evidence of the growing strength of the Welsh economy. When we welcome the teams of Saudi business men and academics in the near future they will be able to see for themselves the quality of products and research produced in Wales and I am sure that this will lead to further opportunities for mutual investment and exchanges between Wales and Saudi Arabia.