Riyadh- Saudi Export Development Authority is part of the Saudi pavilion at the Baghdad International Fair in its 44th session, from October 21 to 30, with 60 companies from various industrial and service sectors.

The Saudi Export Authority is seeking through the exhibition to discover market opportunities for Saudi products in Iraq and to facilitate export procedures to Iraq in cooperation with the relevant authorities.

Secretary-General of the Saudi Export Development Authority Saleh al-Salami said that the Authority’s participation in the Baghdad International Fair comes from its role in encouraging Saudi products to reach the international markets.

He pointed out that the gross domestic product of Iraq amounted to about 643 billion riyals in 2016, the service sector was the largest share of them by 57 percent, and 38 percent for the industrial sector, while agriculture accounted for five percent.

The highest sectors in terms of the value of imports in Iraq are food products, according to the data of 2016, amounting to 21 billion riyals, followed by heavy equipment and electronics by about 20.3 billion riyals and then building materials by more than 15.8 billion Saudi riyals, which makes Iraq a market opportunity and a good export destination for Saudi products, Salami added.

Salami confirmed that the decision to head towards the Iraqi market was the result of a discussion sessions held by the Saudi Export Authority with a group of exporters to discuss the major challenges they have been facing, to find effective solutions to overcome them and reach means to facilitate the arrival of the Saudi product to the Iraqi market.

“The Authority strives to provide all tools and means that contribute to overcoming the obstacles that hinder the arrival of the national product to compete internationally in order to develop Saudi non-oil exports in the Iraqi market in particular and international markets in general.”

A statement issued by the Saudi Export Development Authority said that its participation at the Baghdad International Fair this year under the slogan of ‘industries that transcend borders and bring peoples closer,’ is one of the most important participations that will contribute to the establishment of economic trade relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.