Jeddah -- Saleh Al-Turki, former chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told a visiting US business delegation that   "The Kingdom, with its new cities planned for development including King Abdullah Economic City, has tremendous potential to attract foreign direct investment".

The ongoing construction boom is a clear indication of the tremendous opportunities in the Kingdom's economy. Nearly one third of the eight million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia work in the construction sector - 93 percent of them are non-Saudi. The advantage with foreign labour is they come trained and cheaper than their local counterparts. Thus the training sector is wide open for overseas investors.

On its part the American delegation was highly impressed and  convinced that with its size, transparency, progressive reforms of the economy and financial institutions, the Kingdom of saudi Arabia is among the world's most attractive targets for foreign investment today.