RIYADH: Top Djibouti officials on Tuesday invited Saudi investors to invest in the international free trade zone, which “is a large gateway to an African market of about 1.3 billion people, and ready with appropriate infrastructure.” Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority Chairman Aboubaker Omar Hadi in presence of Djibouti Ambassador Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama met members of the Saudi business community at the Federation of Saudi Chambers. During the meeting, they reviewed opportunities in the field of ports, logistics, and free zones. The Djibouti officials highlighted the international free trade zone in Djibouti, which is the largest in Africa and is strategically located between the trade routes in the East and the West, where more than $2 trillion of goods pass annually. FSC Secretary-General Hussein Al-Abdulqader praised the historical relations between the Kingdom and Djibouti, stressing the need to take advantage of the available investment capabilities and opportunities and competitive advantages to develop more commercial and investment partnership projects and raise the volume of trade between the two countries, which has grown to about SR7 billion ($1.86 billion) with a growth rate of 103 percent in 2021 compared to 2020. “There is still a great opportunity to increase it in line with the efforts made and the investment opportunities available,” said Al-Abdulqader. On Monday, the DPFZA chairman and the Djibouti ambassador held meetings with officials of several government entities such as the Public Investment Fund, the Exports Development Authority, the Saudi EXIM Bank, and the Ministry of Industry and Minerals. “The DPFZA team presented the different investment opportunities in Djibouti, mainly in the logistics sector, free zones, and the petrochemical industries, and the Saudi team expressed their interest vis-à-vis the facilitation that could be offered to the potential Saudi investors in Djibouti,” Bamakhrama told Arab News. The DPFZA delegation also held a meeting with the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, during which they discussed livestock operation’s improvement through accurate liaison between importers and exporters via Djibouti ports infrastructure. The Saudi side said a new livestock transport service linking Djibouti Port to Jazan Port is in progress which will act as a distribution center to the Gulf region