Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday arrived in the Saudi Arabia capital, Riyadh for two major summits focused on cooperation and development.
Riyadh is hosting the 43rd session of the Supreme Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), the Riyadh Gulf-China Summit for Cooperation and Development and the Riyadh Chinese-Arab Summit for Cooperation and Development, which will be held later today.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and leaders of Saudi Arabia agreed on Thursday to jointly advance the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership and achieve even greater progress.
The Chinese leader said his country seeks to deepen industrial and infrastructure cooperation with Saudi Arabia, advance the development of the China-Saudi Arabia (Jizan) Industrial Park and the construction of major infrastructure projects, level up trade, investment and financial cooperation, expand cooperation in such areas as e-commerce, digital economy, clean energy, high technology and space research and development, and enhance cooperation in law-enforcement, counter-terrorism and deradicalization.
President Xi said that the two sides need to earnestly synergize China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, and work for more outcomes in bilateral cooperation in all areas.
“China will increase communication and coordination with Saudi Arabia on energy policy, expand the scale of crude oil trade, enhance cooperation on exploration and development, and deliver on the Sino-Saudi Gulei Ethylene Complex Project and other large-scale energy cooperation projects,” President Xi said.
For his part, King Salman noted that he highly values relations with China and is ready to work with Xi to advance Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive strategic partnership with China and deliver more benefits to both peoples sharing friendly relations. This is also conducive to regional and global peace, stability and tranquility.
The two heads of state co-signed in person the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between the People’s Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and agreed to take turns to host biennial meetings between the heads of state of the two countries.
Xi arrived here Wednesday afternoon to attend the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-GCC Summit, and pay a state visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of King Salman.
