Top officials of the World Gold Council (WGC) will this week meet with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s gold industry and government leaders, in a bid to develop the gold market in the country.

During this visit, the WGC hopes to identify new areas for product development and fresh initiatives, helping to create enduring value for the gold market.

“Saudi Arabia has and continues to be an important gold market in the region.  Consumer gold demand in the country, which grew by 35 per cent during the past year, represents a third of total gold demand in the Middle East,” stated Aram Shishmanian, CEO of the World Gold Council.

The WGC has already established close relations with a number of trade and government related institutions in both the Kingdom and across the region, to execute joint initiatives to drive demand for gold.

Some of the initiatives that have been led by the World Gold Council in the kingdom include the upcoming launch of Jeddah's Goldsmith Institute in cooperation with Jeddah Gate Of Gold Co. (established by the head and members of Jeddah’s Gold Committee (2006-2009) – a first of its kind in Saudi Arabia).

The WGC is also working to co-deliver seminars in Jeddah and Riyadh with the gold and jewellery committees and co-launching a new website – the 'Jeddah Gate of Gold'. In addition, the WGC is co-delivering a wedding campaign with L’azurde, as well as launching a new fine and fashionable gold jewellery brand in the last quarter of this year.

Saudi Arabia is a key region for the gold industry. Last month the WGC released a report highlighting the recent revision of Saudi Arabia’s Monetary Agency reported gold holdings from 144.3 tonnes to 322.9 tonnes.

In May, the WGC released its first quarter 2010 Gold Demand Trends (GDT) report, which cited consumer demand in Saudi Arabia as being the highest in the Middle East region at 21.1 tonnes for the quarter, representing a 35 per cent increase over the same period in 2009 and representing almost a third of gold demand in the region, which stood at 65.8 tonnes.

The GDT report also indicated that it expects demand for gold globally to remain strong during 2010.-TradeArabia News Service