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Saudi-Austrian Forum in Vienna
Saudi Arabia and Austria celebrated the 55th anniversary of Saudi-Austrian relations. Foreign trade is growing substantially.
Saudi-Austrian Forum in Vienna / Picture: © Vindobona.org
The Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information and the Austrian and Saudi Ministries of Foreign Affairs organized the Saudi-Austrian Forum in Vienna to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. The Saudi Minister Dr. Abdulaziz Khoja and the Austrian Minister Michael Spindelegger inaugurated the event on Monday. Both stressed the excellent relations between the Kingdom and Austria. Spindelegger proudly mentioned that this fact is underlined by the gesture of HRH King Abdullah by choosing Vienna as the headquarters of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Center for Dialogue.
The latest figures for 2011 revealed new record highs in trade between Austria and Saudi Arabia. Not only Austrian exports to the Kingdom reached with € 534,2m (+38%) an all-time-high, but also the bilateral trade volume broke the € 1bn mark for the first time ever. Saudi exports to Austria exploded even an unbelievable 1093% to € 498,4m and consisted mainly of crude oil deliveries. The biggest winners of Austrian export goods to Saudi Arabia were Steel (+733%), goods made of iron and steel (such as pipes, rail tracks, form works material) (+105%), electric machinery (+99%), fruit juice (+76%), industrial machines (+64%).