May 8 will feature the inauguration of the initial European Chamber of Commerce of the Gulf region in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The European Chamber of Commerce hailed this as a ‘historic’ milestone on their official website in Saudi Arabia, marking it as a vital turning point in boosting trade ties between the European Union (EU) and Saudi Arabia.

The primary aim of the European Chamber of Commerce in KSA (ECCKSA) is to be listed as the representative office for all European corporations in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) zone, providing them with the support and voice of the EU. Its core mission is to facilitate market entry for member businesses in the free trade area, regardless of whether they are Western or Saudi.

This chamber will establish collective committees permitting members to focus on sector-specific challenges within their communities. They will, in turn, provide constant insights and recommendations that would help businesses enter the market and eventually bring economic growth to the Kingdom.

The mechanism continues the process started during the Saudi-European Investment Forum in October 2023, reaffirming the importance of EU-Saudi trade relations for continued economic progress.

The Minister of Investment and Industry of Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al-Falih, pointed out that the trade turnover grew to around 80 billion dollars in 2022. This was accompanied by a boost in foreign direct investment that involved more than 1300 EU firms investing in Saudi Arabia from across various sectors.

Maros Sefcovic, Executive Vice President of the European Commission mentioned their interest in maintaining dialogue with multilateral trade policy agendas. In 2022, the European Union-Saudi Arabia trade volume was 75 billion euros, much higher than that of the previous years, while Saudi Arabia attracted 55 billion euros of foreign direct investment in 2021.