Representatives of the US trade mission during the interactive session in Riyadh.

Riyadh will host the 4th edition of Saudi-US Business Forum early next year, said Douglas J. Wallace, commercial counselor, US Embassy in Riyadh.

It is going to take place for the first time in Saudi Arabia after three successful editions of the joint forum were held in the US cities of Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

He was speaking to the Arab News on the sidelines of an interactive session organized by the embassy with the visiting US trade mission which is in the Kingdom to introduce the American SMEs into the Saudi market.

Wallace also said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in cooperation with the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) and the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council (USSABC), will host the forum.

The business leaders from the two countries attending the event in March 2016 will further explore ways of bolstering economic cooperation and building new and lasting business ties between these two friendly countries.

When asked for details about the higher US government officials participating in the upcoming forum, he said: “We are working on that and the names are not finalized so far.”

He said that the US Department of Commerce organized this four-day US architecture and engineering services trade mission (Oct. 19-22) with stops in Riyadh and Jeddah.

It was organized in cooperation with the American institute of architects, the American council of engineering companies and the Saudi council of engineers, he added.

The visit aims at introducing American SMEs working in architecture and engineering fields to the Saudi market, identify areas of mutual cooperation, encourage the design and development of sustainable building codes in the Kingdom addressing green and smart build solutions, discuss the training and development of future Saudi architects and civil engineers and develop stronger ties to leading centers of higher education in the Kingdom in engineering and architecture sectors.

The participant companies in the trade mission include A and A Consultants (transportation engineering), A K Consulting (civil and urban design), Alcoa (lightweight metal technology for building), ARCOM (water tech), Creative Machines (civil and urban artwork), CTL Group (consulting engineering), Harding Partners (university design and public buildings), Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates (performing arts centers), Meplan (health care), Stanley Consultants (project design and construction management) and Ted Jacob engineering (green build, hospitals and education centers).

These participants held direct meetings with the leading architecture and civil engineering companies in the Kingdom.

They also held meeting with the Saudi council of engineers and academic leaders in engineering and architecture disciplines and discussed greater cooperation in developing building codes and standards in the Kingdom, training of the Kingdom’s future architects and engineers.

During the meeting, they also showcased the latest products in building technology and and shared trends that would be of immense help to the

Kingdom as it continues to move forward on housing and other infrastructure projects.

Furthermore, during the interactive session representatives from these participating countries shared their enriching experience of their visit maintaining that besides trade promotion between the two countries building relation with the Saudi counterparts was objective during interactions to strengthen long-term B2B relations.

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