Riyadh Look to Asian Trade; a Series of Multibillion Dollar Agreements between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, China and India, Have Given New Impetus to the Kingdom's Economic Strategy and Helped It Avoid Opening Up Its Economy to Western Domination

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THE RATE OF MULTIBILLION dollar investment by Indian and Chinese firms into the Middle East over the past two years has been impressive. Now, in an effort to improve energy security in their respective nations, state-owned oil and gas companies in each country have invested in both upstream and gas processing ventures. To date the bulk of trade has been from China to Saudi Arabia. However, there are indications that investments are beginning to flow more strongly in the opposite direction, as the kingdom seeks to build on growing ties with the rest of Asia and also to diversify its portfolio of overseas investments; a series of oil export deals with Asian countries are expected to be signed during the course of 2006.

This month, a delegation of Saudi business leaders will visit Pakistan in order to discuss a raft of investment opportunities in sectors including IT, property, telecoms and tourism, while contracts on infrastructural development are also likely to be drawn up. Pakistan's prime ministerial adviser on finance, Salman Shah, commented: "We …