Saudi and Chinese companies signed 34 investment agreements on the first day of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to the Kingdom, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
On Wednesday, Xi arrived in Riyadh. This is his third trip abroad since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Dozens of agreements were signed between Saudi and China covering several sectors in the fields of green energy, green hydrogen, photovoltaic energy, information technology, cloud services, transportation, logistics, medical industries, housing, and construction factories.
Read more: Billions in agreements expected during China’s president Xi’s visit to Saudi
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Investment Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Falih confirmed that the agreements reflect the Kingdom’s keenness under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to develop the Kingdom’s relations in all fields including economic and investment with China.
Eng. al-Falih stated that the visit reflects the two countries’ leaders’ desire to develop and strengthen relations and partnerships in all fields, including economic and investment, and that the visit will contribute to increasing the pace of economic and investment cooperation between the two countries.
He also stated that, in light of Vision 2030, the Kingdom provides unprecedented investment opportunities in a variety of sectors such as renewable energy, industry, communications, information technology, biotechnology, tourism, building and construction, and others, expressing his desire to increase investment between the Kingdom and China.
The volume of trade exchange between the two countries was 304 billion riyals ($80 billion) in 2021, and 103 billion riyals ($270 million) in the third quarter of 2022.
Xi’s visit to the Kingdom will last until December 9, when a Saudi-China summit will be held, presided over by King Salman and the Chinese president, and attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Other summits will be held, including a China-Gulf summit and a China-Arab summit, with leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab states expected to attend.
According to GCC Secretary General Nayef al-Hajraf, the Gulf-Chinese summit will take place on Friday.
