Governmental Gateways in Saudi-Arabia and in Germany

Saudi-Arabian Information Resource
The Saudi Arabian Information Resource, a Saudi Ministry of Culture & Information website, contains more than 2,000 pages of information on every aspect of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For some aspects (for example the statistics you can find on this website) the information has not been updated recently, but in the News section, you have a weekly overview of articles concerning all aspects of Saudi economy and politics. Ministries, governmental agencies etc. are listed with their addresses and their respective missions. Important laws like the new law on foreign investment are outlined and one very useful feature of this webseite is its detailed index, which enables the user to be linked immediately with the topic he is interested in.

Official gateway to Germany
Deutschland.de (das offizielle Deutschland Portal) is available in 6 languages, including English and Arabic, and covers all aspects of life like : Culture, Economy, Education, Health, Media, Science, Sports, State and Tourism. Deutschland.de is a gateway, this means you will find commented lists of specialised servers but not directly the final information.

The "Education / German as a foreign language" heading for instance leads you to a list of all servers useful for people who want to learn German, be it in Germany or abroad, including servers like the one listing all German schools in the world, or of course the "Goethe Institute".


  General information on Saudi-Arabia and Germany

Saudi-Arabia  ,  Germany
The CIA World Fact book is widely known for its accurate description and statistics of the World's countries; geography, history, population, government, economy, military etc. are some of the topics treated in the fact sheets. It is a starting point for anybody trying to get some basic information about any country in the world.

Bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and Germany

This page on the server of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de) gives an excellent overview on the political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries. Moreover, by the main menu on the right side of the page, you might find a lot of very interesting and useful information about Saudi Arabia.

Information on the OECD server : Germany
Germany as an OECD member country is widely documented on the OECD server, whereas there is almost no information on Saudi-Arabia.

Information on the Worldbank server : Germany     Saudi Arabia
The "Data and Statistics" part of the Worldbank server provides a very large display of all kinds of statistics, like economic profiles of each country, ICT, gender, education, health and nutrition statistics and many more. For each type of data a drop down list  invites you to choose a country and to display the different statistics pertaining to the chosen country.


ArabNet on Saudi Arabia :

ArabNet is owned by ArabNet Technology (ANT), part of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, publisher of the leading newspapers and magazines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including Asharq Al-Awsat.

Under the headings History, Geography, Business, Culture, Government,Transport and Tour Guide, you will find a lot of useful information, which seems to be quite up to date  (pages with 2002 copyright). A pity that there are not more direct links to the Web sites of some of the listed Ministries or other organizations. We found few mistakes (like describing the Jeddah Airport under the heading of the Riadh Airport and vice versa, nothing serious in fact).
These pages are very useful for all foreigners wanting to work or do business in the Kingdom. The business chapter for instance includes information about "Licensing, import and export duties, private sector joint ventures and agents".... and many more.





Saudi / Arab - German Business Exchanges

Two important organisations for doing business in Saudi Arabia in general and in Jeddah in particular :

SAGIA : Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
SAGIA is the gateway to investment in Saudi Arabia. SAGIA's mission is to provide services to the investor and to improve the invesment climate in Saudi Arabia.
Sagia was created by the Government of Saudi Arabia in April 2000, when it announced a new Foreign Investment Law. SAGIA has since been actively working with the government and other agencies towards a Saudi development vision for the 21st century.

Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI)

The JCCI Website presents all the different departments of the Chamber and contains some useful information about the local companies  (members' searchable database). Several other pages and databases (like the "Business opportunities" database or the "Ladies section" page) must have been set up quite recently and are still in need of content.

Saudi German business organisations :

SAGECO : Saudi German Development and Investment Company
Given its role as a development company, SAGECO organizes symposiums and lectures on the Kingdom and participates in the industrial fairs held in Germany to highlight the opportunities and incentives available for investment in the industrial, agricultural and services sectors of the Kingdom. To promote German investments by encouraging joint ventures in the industrial, agricultural and services sectors of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Sageco is committed to a number of activities such as:

	Assisting project promoters in sourcing out a suitable partner for the purpose of establishing a joint venture project in Saudi Arabia.
	Organizing or participating in commercial exhibitions and symposiums where the businessmen normally get to meet each other and necessary background on suitable projects is developed.
	Conducting preliminary economic studies and providing advice on procedural matters.
	If necessary, participate in the capital of Saudi-German projects.
	Assisting in obtaining loans for joint projects and undertaking other activities for the achievement of Company objectives.

GESALO

The German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs (GESALO) was set up in 1978 by the German Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce. It is part of the global network of German chambers of industry and commerce, the German Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce and the bilateral German Chambers of Foreign Trade. GESALO, which has offices in Riyadh and Jiddah, supports and promotes bilateral economic relations between Germany and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

E-trade-center

Numerous German organizations both within Germany and abroad receive requests for business contacts from foreign companies. And companies in Germany, for their part, also wish to publicize their business inquiries with a focus on a particular country or countries, or even worldwide.
With the support of the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (Federal German Ministry of Economics and Labour ), business contacts inquiries are announced to German and foreign companies via a single access using the central business contacts database.www. e-trade-center com enables both German and foreign companies to publicize their products and services on Internet and, conversely, to enquire for the products and services they need. Companies can enter their business enquiries in e-trade-center themselves, using the corresponding questionnaire. This site provides interested German and foreign companies with an immediate overview of other companies' requirements for business contacts, enabling them to contact potential business partners directly.

e-trade-center was set up in 2001 as the Internet database of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHKs), the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHKs) and the Association of German Chambers Industry and Commerce (DIHK). The business contact databases operated by the IHKs, the AHKs and the DIHK, plus that of the German Office for Foreign Trade (bfai), were merged on December 1, 2002. This cooperation project received the support of the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit.

AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry
www.auma-fairs.com
This important website gives you all information needed about trade fairs worldwide, where we learn for instance that in 2005 25 trade fairs are planned in the different cities of the Kingdom (as compared to 94 trade fairs in the UAE for instance).
Informations provided include : venue, interval, city, date, organiser, sponsor,  industry sectors,  main product group, opening hours, space available, statistics on exhibitors and visitors.

Arab decision : The most comprehensive Database in the Arab World

http://www.arabdecision.org

This database seems to be one of quite a few attempts to give political, economical and business information on the countries of the so called "Arab World". The database points to information about 19 countries,  of which only Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan and Morocco are presently available.
The database has the ambition to give the names of the directors of Government services or the top managers of private companies. This is a field of information which must be continuously updated and it is therefore very difficult to have it all up to date. In numerous cases the Database gives biographical information on the cited top managers and sometimes we even find a photo.

Business Etiquette in Saudi Arabia and in Germany

http://www.executiveplanet.com/
Executive Planet provides business etiquette guides for 42 countries of the world, including most European countries as well as quite a few Arab countries, like Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the UAE. The topics include hints about making appointments, how to address people, appropriate business gifts, conversation and negotiation, public behaviour and many others.




Studying German and Studying in Germany

Deutsche Schule Jeddah (German School in Jeddah)
The German School in Jeddah follows the german curricula and teaches up to year 10. The lessons are given in german, but students have english and arabic lessons from year 2 or 3.

Goethe Institut
Goethe Institute is the worldwide network of Institutes teaching the german language and culture. Unfortunately for the moment, there is no such institute in Saudi-Arabia, the nearest institutes in the Middle East being located in Amman or in Cairo. To make up for this missing link in the network, the SGBG and the German Consulate General in Jeddah recently set up a German Language Center

TestDaf (Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache)
This server gives all necessary information on the assessment of your knowledge of the German language. It might be compared to the Toefl test for the English language. Succes in this test is often a preliminary requirement for entering a university curriculum in Germany. As might be expected the nearest (to Saudi-Arabia) examination centers are the Goethe Institutes in Kairo or in Amman.

Gate Germany
One of the missions of this server is to assist German universities and higher education institutions to market their offers for international high qualified students. A second edition of the CD-ROM "Qualifying in Germany - Study and Research Opportunities" accompanied by a printed brochure is in preparation.

DAAD
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst : German Academic Exchange Service.
One of DAAD 's five principal missions is the support and advancement of the young international academic elite for the purpose of gaining future leaders and executives in science and culture, business and politics as partners and friends of Germany.

The DAAD supports the specialist and personal qualification of the young international academic elite at Germany's higher education and research institutions by awarding scholarships and grants which are largely funded from the resources of the German Foreign Ministry and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. Target groups include students, practical interns, student trainees, doctoral candidates, academics and scientists who are chosen from the large number of applicants by the DAAD's independent selection committees. The DAAD maintains contacts with its scholarship holders over and beyond the concrete support awarded in Germany and thereby creates a network of leaders and executives well disposed towards Germany.

Its English speaking homepage shows a menu heading titled : "Study, research and teaching in Germany" which provides all useful information on how to plan your studies, how to select the appropriate University and curriculum, which are the requirements for candidates, which are the possibilities for obtaining a scholarship and so forth.

Scholarships (page of the server of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Promotion of international student, academic and research exchanges. The Federal Foreign Office itself does not, in principle, award any scholarships, grants for travelling costs etc. directly. It has transferred this task to independant cultural organizations which it provides with funds from the Federal budget to carry out the programmes in question. This page answers frequently asked questions about which institution to contact and where to apply for a scholarship.



Arab / German Cultural Exchanges

IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen)
This institute located in Stuttgart is meant to promote dialogue with the non-european world by organizing dialogue forums, conferences and exhibitions, as well as by publishing reports on specialised topics. Actually the IFA FORUM "DIALOGUE AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING"

The ifa forum "Dialogue and Mutual Understanding" aims at giving an impetus for the European Islamic intercultural dialogue. With its activities the project wants to stimulate the participation and additional measures of other parties and to connect different levels of activity and dialogue.

The ifa forum "Dialogue and Mutual Understanding" is a project within the framework of the German Foreign Office Special Program on "European-Islamic Cultural Dialogue"

Specialised Press

Qantara.de : Dialogue with the islamic world
The Arabic word "qantara" means "bridge". The Internet portal Qantara.de represents the concerted effort of the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Center for Political Education), Deutsche Welle, the Goethe Institut and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for Foreign Relations) to promote dialogue with the Islamic world. The project is funded by the German Foreign Office. You can subscribe to the monthly Newsletter from Qantara's homepage.

Deutschland
The journal "Deutschland" provides a thorough and sound overview of the relevant political, economic and cultural developments in the Federal Republic of Germany every two months. It is published in 14 languages, comprising English and Arabic.