RIYADH: The eighth meeting of the Saudi-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council kicked off in Washington DC on Sunday.
According to Arab news, the Saudi delegation was led by the General Authority of Foreign Trade (GAFT), which included 20 government entities. The meeting will last until Friday.
The council’s objective is to monitor trade and investment ties in order to identify opportunities for expansion, improve a promising trade and investment environment, and boost economic development between the two countries.
The council discusses bilateral trade and investment issues, protects and enforces intellectual property rights, manages data and e-commerce, promotes market access, builds capacity, and reviews trade and investment policies.
The Saudi delegation is scheduled to attend several workshops and meetings on the sidelines of the meeting.
A workshop titled “Trade Opportunities between the Middle East and the United States,” will be held and attended by US ambassadors in Gulf nations, and the opening session of the Select USA Investment Summit will be chaired by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The delegation will also take part in the fifth GCC-US Trade and Investment Dialogue Forum, a panel discussion titled “Saudi Investment in Technology,” the US-Saudi Forum titled “Investing in Our Shared Future,” the GCC-US Roundtable, and the Saudi-US Roundtable.
The trade volume between Saudi Arabia and the US in 2023 was approximately $34 billion, with fertilizers and mineral products being the most significant Saudi exports to the US, while mechanical appliances, machinery and automobile spare parts were the top US imports.
