Trade between Saudi Arabia and Taiwan in 2009 has reduced by around 40% to 9.34bn due to global recession, according to Ibrahim Chao, the newly designated representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Riyadh, Arabnews has reported. From 2005 to 2008, trade between the two countries increased by more than 50%, from $7.9bn in 2005 to $16.2bn. Chao said Saudi Arabia is one of the major economic partners of Taiwan, ranking fifth in terms of imports and 26th in terms of exports. Taiwan's exports to the kingdom during the year reached $674m, while its imports reached around $8.7bn.