“Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is still the leader in terms of investments in Yemen and has been the leading commercial venture partner over the past few years, the council’s activities are still stalled,” he said.
Bugshan said the council was previously responsible for organizing meetings, exhibitions and conferences, but since the outbreak of unrest and due to the current turmoil, no commercial or investment-related activities in the country have been initiated.
He said events in Yemen have cast a shadow over the Yemeni economy and the volume of transactions, trade, investments and exchanges between the two countries.
The Saudi-Yemeni Business Council was founded in 2001, and has since led to an increase in the trade value between both countries from SR1.06 billion in 2002, to SR6.34 billion in 2011. While the Kingdom ranked first in terms of investments in Yemen, it advanced its ranking among top exporting countries to Yemen, rising from 38th place in 2002 to 29th place in 2012, with the size of exports valued at SR5.37 billion.
According to Bugshan, the Kingdom’s ranking among top importing countries from Yemen also increased two places, from 46th place in 2002 with the size of imports valued at SR329 million, to 44th place in 2012 with imports valued at SR969 million.
The Saudi-Yemeni Business Council was established to increase the level of cooperation between businessmen and investors in both countries, to strengthen economic relations and increase the level of exchange and joint investments, as well as to increase the awareness of businessmen in both countries regarding investment opportunities.
In a related context, the General Investment Authority in Yemen denied halting most registered Gulf projects in the country. Mohsen Yahya Saleh, the head of the authority, said in a statement to SPA that such news reports are inaccurate.
The deteriorating demand and weak purchasing power of Yemenis, as well as increasing levels of looting and vandalism, have prompted many Saudi investors to reconsider their investments in the country, while others have stopped pumping more liquidity into the existing projects in several Yemeni cities.
