With Australia eyeing economic opportunities in Saudi Arabia, apart from exploring and deepening trade ties with the Kingdom, Trademark Group of Companies has opened its office in Riyadh.
Trademark Group will be helping Australian businesses to expand into the Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, while providing similar opportunities for the Middle-East countries.
Talking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Australian Saudi Business Networking Event in Riyadh, Australian Ambassador Mark Donovan said the opening of the office will help both countries explore investment opportunities in sectors like healthcare, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture.
The ‘Australian Saudi Business Networking Event’ has been the second one between the countries in 2023, with business leaders from 22 companies exploring potential opportunities in the Kingdom.
“I think having the Trademark office here is going to be a big boost to bringing business delegations. In February, Trademark brought the largest Australian business delegation to visit the Kingdom. So, if we keep up the pace of those business delegations, then the commercial opportunities are going to grow and deals will be done,” Donovan remarked.
Trademark Group is a group of businesses, which represents Australia’s construction, development and industrial manufacturing sectors. Through the forum, businesses can come together and share investment opportunities and ideas, and create relationships, while looking for growth opportunities across the globe.
In January 2023, the first delegation from Australia comprising 51 companies visited the Kingdom, while another delegation is scheduled to visit the Kingdom by the end of June.
“I think there’s a lot of areas where Australia can lend expertise and form partnerships with Saudi Arabia. Our strengths at the moment are in the education sector, the health sector, engineering, and other areas where I would like to see expansion are construction, manufacturing, and industrial sectors,” Donovan stated further, while admitting that agricultural trade between the two countries has always been strong.
Donovan also noted that the opening of free economic zones will elevate Australian exports to the Kingdom as the “commercial opportunities (created) through those free zones will be too good to turn down.”
The envoy said that the changing business environment in the Kingdom is expected to attract more investments from Australia, while stating that the Kingdom’s economic diversification agenda called ‘Vision 2030’ has made the country an ideal business destination.
“Australia is ideally placed to partner in this. We have more similarities with Saudi Arabia than we realize. We are, of course, fellow G20 economies. We both recently announced ambitious targets for greening our economies and mitigating the effects and the impact of climate change to which we are both more vulnerable than most,” the ambassador said.
Sam Jamsheedi, founder and chairman of Trademark Group of Companies, told Arab News that the launch of an office in Riyadh will help Australian companies’ soft land in Saudi Arabia.
“The ecosystem is the most important part. So, the way we deal with the (Australian) delegation, we try to expose them to government sectors first, and after understanding how the ecosystem works, we try to expose them to businesses,” Sam Jamsheedi remarked.
Sam Jamsheedi also invited Saudi businesses to explore investment opportunities in Australia, dubbing the latter as one of the booming and safest economies of the world.
Lauding Saudi’s growth, Todd Miller, trade and investment commissioner at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, said that Riyadh is a budding site for businesses, while expressing confidence that the Trademark Group of Companies will help Australian firms adapt themselves to the Kingdom’s market.
In April 2023, a report released by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission noted that Saudi Arabia’s mining sector offers huge investment opportunities for Australian companies.
The study also noted that more opportunities will emerge in the digital sector, quality and safety solutions, environmental services, and mine safety equipment and services in the coming days.