Xi, Mohammed bin Salman stress importance of Saudi-Chinese boosting trade, investment

Chinese President HE Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman stressed the importance of enhancing Saudi-Chinese cooperation across all fields, and most importantly in the trade and investment fields.

 

The two sides stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation through a high-level Saudi-Chinese Joint Committee to achieve common goals, enhancing cooperation between the two countries in all fields, and intensifying communication between the government and private sectors in the two countries to discuss economic, trade and investment opportunities and translate them into tangible partnerships, and enhancing cooperation in areas that aim to elevate the economic and developmental relationship between the two countries to broader horizons.

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday highlighted close security and energy ties with Gulf nations during summit meetings in the Saudi capital.

 

At the invitation of King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the country from Wednesday to Friday.

 

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, received His Excellency Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two sides held an official session of talks and exchanged views regarding ways to reinforce and develop comprehensive strategic partnership relations between the Kingdom and China, and all international and regional issues of common interest. 

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, affirmed that the Saudi-Chinese summits are gaining economic significance because they serve as a forum for sharing knowledge and exploring new investment opportunities.

He added that these summits also present excellent chances to strengthen economic and investment partnerships and achieve shared development among all participating nations.

 

Also, the Saudi Minister of Investment,  Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih confirmed that the agreements reflect the kingdom’s keenness to develop the relations in all fields including economic and investment with the friendly Republic of China.

 

In a joint statement, the two sides commended the growth of intra-trade and investment between their two countries, which embodies the depth and sustainability of their economic relations. 

 

They also affirmed their willingness to increase the volume of Saudi-Chinese non-oil trade, facilitate the Kingdom’s non-oil exports to China, as well as to increase the joint quality investment between the two countries. 

 

The two sides agreed to enhance the work to benefit from the available trade and investment opportunities, intensify the capacity of aircraft carriers, motivate private sectors investment partnerships in both countries, and consolidate efforts to create an attractive, supportive, and incentive investment environment within the framework of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and “Belt and Road Initiative”, through deepening cooperation in several fields including the automotive industry, supply chains, logistics, water desalination, infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, and the financial sector.

 

The Saudi side expressed its aspiration to attract Chinese expertise to participate in the future mega-projects in the Kingdom, in addition to its keenness to enable Saudi investments in the People’s Republic of China and overcome the difficulties such investments may face. 

 

The Saudi side also stressed the importance of attracting international Chinese companies to open regional headquarters in the Kingdom and appreciated the interest of several companies in that regard as they are obtaining licences to establish their regional headquarters in the Kingdom, to ultimately benefit from the exceptional Chinese experiences and capabilities for the benefit of the economies of the two countries.

 

The two sides expressed their satisfaction with signing a “harmonisation plan” between the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the “Belt and Road Initiative”. 

 

The two sides agreed on the importance of accelerating the pace of harmonisation between Saudi-Chinese projects, employing integrated advantages, and deepening practical cooperation between the two sides to obtain mutual benefits and common development. 

 

The two sides also welcomed the signing of (12) agreements and government memoranda of understanding for cooperation in the fields of hydrogen energy, the judiciary field, Chinese language education, housing, direct investment, radio and television, digital economy, economic development, standardisation, news coverage, tax administration, and anti-corruption. In addition to the signing of (9) agreements and memoranda of understanding between the government and private sectors, and the signing of (25) agreements and memoranda of understanding between companies in the two countries.

 

The Chinese side invited the Saudi side to be the guest of honour for the sixth session of the Arab-Chinese Exhibition for the year 2023. The Chinese side also expressed its keenness to deepen investment cooperation with the Saudi side in the digital economy and green development, enhance cooperation in e-commerce, and explore means of joint economic and trade cooperation with Africa. 

 

The Saudi side also welcomed Chinese companies’ investments in the Kingdom, through the mega investment opportunities provided by Vision 2030 in various sectors. On the other hand, the Chinese side welcomed the enhancement of investments of sovereign wealth funds and Saudi industrial capital in China. The two sides agreed to encourage building partnerships between Saudi-Chinese investment funds.

 

Regarding the financial field, the two sides stressed the importance of cooperation to support the success of the “Common Framework for Debt Treatment beyond the scope of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative”, which was endorsed by the G20 leaders at the G20 summit headed by the Kingdom. The two sides also confirmed the need to coordinate relevant positions in international forums such as G20, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Asian Bank, to invest in infrastructure and other areas, in a manner that enhances efforts aimed at increasing the effectiveness and governance of these groups and institutions. The two sides also confirmed the importance of enhancing cooperation in the field of tax policies, thus contributing to enhancing financial, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.