RIYADH, Sept 18: Saudi business leaders on Tuesday welcomed a decision by the Saudi government to facilitate entry visas for foreign businessmen, saying it would boost investments in the kingdom.

At its weekly meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the cabinet decided that foreign businessmen would henceforth be granted multiple-entry visas valid for one year.

The decision was announced early on Tuesday.

The visas will be granted by Saudi diplomatic missions abroad without the applicant producing an invitation from a specific Saudi company or an introduction letter from one of the chambers of commerce, according to a cabinet statement cited by official media.

The move is liable to greatly ease the entry of foreign businessmen into Saudi Arabia, which applies a host of visa restrictions.

“The streamlining of visa procedures for foreign businessmen ... is a positive development and will facilitate the entry of businessmen wishing to boost trade and investment links between the kingdom and their home countries,” said Abdulrahman al-Juraissy, chairman of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

It “lifts an obstacle which the Saudi private sector and chambers of commerce have been complaining about and enhances trade and investment openness,” he added.

His remarks were echoed by the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the commercial capital of Jeddah, Sheikh Saleh bin Ali al-Turki.

The move aims at “boosting foreign investments in the kingdom as part of its plan to become one of the world’s top 10 countries in attracting investments,” Turki said in a statement.

Recent studies have shown that the difficulty of obtaining entry visas was one of the main impediments to investment in Saudi Arabia, he added.—AFP