Projects worth billions of dollars are waiting for the Romanian builders in Saudi Arabia

Reporter: How would you appreciate the economic relations between Romania and Saudi Arabia?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: The relations between the two countries are excellent politically. As for the economic relations, I can say that they have not reached the level of expansion of the former, in spite the increase in the trade between the two countries. Even though its value has tripled in the past three years, reaching over 500 million Euros in 2012, that level is not satisfactory. We think that there are potential investments which could be made. We have to remember that the countries in the Gulf area, and Saudi Arabia in particular, have not been affected by the global economic crisis, due to their oil production.

Reporter: What would be the most important sectors of the Romanian economy that could attract the interest of Saudi businesspeople?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: One such sector is agriculture. Agriculture represents one of the immediate needs of Saudi Arabia. We have already developed agricultural projects in other countries, such as Sudan, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Ukraine or countries from South America, with the most recent of them being worth 30 million Euros, and now we are trying to do this in Romania.

Reporter: Is there interest from Saudi businesspeople to buy land in Romania?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: Not necessarily buy. They are also considering long-term lease, for periods such as 50 years. We have a strategic plan, conceived by King Abdullah, to ensure Saudi Arabia's food security. This plan consists of granting loans to Saudi firms to invest in agriculture or outside the country. The loans amount to millions of dollars, they do not carry interest and they come with the guarantee that those products will be bought.

Reporter: Did you talk to the Romanian authorities, to the Ministry of Agriculture?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: Yes, but the problem with Romanian plots of land is that they are small. We are looking for plots of thousands of hectares, which the Saudi businesspeople are trying to secure, but it is a small scale operation.

Reporter: Starting next year, Romania will allow the sale of its land to non-residents. So it would be an opportunity for investors to buy land and to develop businesses in agriculture. Do you think that Saudi investors will be able to do more business in Romania next year?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: I think so. Because geographically speaking, Romania is closer to Saudi Arabia than other countries.

Other areas are the IT industry and the energy sector. We have hundreds of Romanian experts that are working in Saudi Arabia. Our businesspeople are increasingly acknowledging the importance of the Romanian market. What we need now is the opposite, for Romania to understand the Romanian business environment, in Saudi Arabia, the needs of our country.

First of all, Romanian businesspeople need to visit Saudi Arabia, to come into contact with our companies, because there are extraordinary opportunities, in sectors such as infrastructure. We need to sign agreements between the chambers of commerce of our two countries, to establish bilateral committees within them.

Reporter: And did you have meetings with the Romanian chambers of commerce?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: We did and we have encouraged the Saudi chambers of commerce to have this kind of meetings. It's not the signing of a cooperation contract that is important, but rather establishing concrete relations. We need the Romanian businesspeople to come and visit us. It's not enough for them to sit over here and to ask the Saudi businessmen to come to them.

Reporter: The Romanian government is planning to privatize partially or fully companies in the energy and railroad sectors. Are Saudi businesspeople interested in any of these areas?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: There may be interest. In the countries of the Persian Gulf there are thousands of energy companies that could be interested in these privatizations.

That is why I have spoken about the importance of communicating between the chambers of commerce, between companies and even between individuals. There have been considerable efforts from the Chamber of Commerce of Craiova.

Reporter: Did you organize visits for the Romanian businessmen in Saudi Arabia?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: The embassy's role isn't to organize meetings, but rather to facilitate them. Visas for Saudi Arabia are easy to obtain, the procedures aren't complicated. All the necessary authorizations for making an investment can be obtained from just one building, and the process won't take more than two hours. An investment of a minimum of 2 million ryals is necessary, which is about 2 million lei. And the visas for the workers can be obtained from the same building as well.

In turn, the Romanian party made praiseworthy efforts to simplify the procedures. For businesspeople it has become a lot easier to obtain visas, three years ago it used to take three-four weeks, whereas they are now issuing it in three days at most.

Reporter: When was the last time a meeting between the president of Romania and the king of Saudi Arabia took place?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: There has been an invitation for president Traian Băsescu to come to Saudi Arabia, approximately two years ago, which was been postponed due to some problems, as king Abdullah underwent surgery. But both parties are interested in this visit.

There have been several official mutual visits. The two governments have concluded an agreement on double taxation, meaning that they have laid the foundation which will allow companies to conduct their operation. However, meetings between the officials have a limited impact. The concrete steps consist of intensifying the meetings between the representatives of the business sector. I keep telling Saudi and Romanian businesspeople alike that there are opportunities they don't know about.

In the construction sector, for instance, we have tremendous growth of investments, in the range of billions. But the Romanian companies have not yet presented themselves in a manner which would answer to our companies' needs. There are construction companies from many countries present in Saudi Arabia, but not from Romania.

Reporter: What is the economic situation in Saudi Arabia like, currently?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: In its latest report, the International Monetary Fund says that the state of the Saudi economy went from stable to positive. The economic growth was 7.1% last year, and the non-oil sector grew 8%, representing the best evolution since 1981.

Reporter: In the context of this crisis, there is a competition among countries for access to natural resources, and Saudi Arabia is very important from that point of view. What countries are you exporting the biggest volume of oil to? Are the United States one of the biggest consumers of oil from Saudi Arabia?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: The US doesn't need oil from Saudi Arabia, but rather they need our oil to go to the countries where they have interest for it to go. The world is interconnected, which makes oil in Saudi Arabia, very important for the US, even if they don't buy a single barrel. Saudi Arabia has played a very important role when it comes to the global stability over the last 30 years. And this has been noticed during every crisis, when we have stabilized the price of oil. We did not take advantage of such sources.

Reporter: What can you tell us about the relation between Saudi Arabia and the countries in the BRICS group?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: We have an excellent relation with the BRICS countries.

Reporter: How will the death of Hugo Chavez affect the policy of OPEC?

Abdul Rahman Ben Ibrahim Ben Ali Ar-Rasi: Over the last 30 years, OPEC, played a positive part for the price of oil, when it comes to its stability, and I don't think that the death of Hugo Chavez will affect the policy of the organization. Its members are aware of the fact that the interests of the OPEC are shared by each of its members, which is why I expect it to continue to play a part on the global stage. Saudi Arabia is also a G20 member, which together with the IMF, takes into account the key role Venezuela plays in the OPEC.

Reporter: Thank you!