The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that Minister Wang Wentao met with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih in Beijing on Sunday, and they discussed expanding cooperation in trade and investment.
The ministry quoted Wang as saying: China Would like to cooperate with Saudi Arabia In order to advance an initiative China’s Belt and Road And the Saudi “Vision 2030” initiative, adding that the two countries will also expand cooperation in the fields of energy, resources, infrastructure and technology.
The Chinese-Saudi Investment Conference is scheduled to start in Beijing, the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, and the conference aims to develop the path of the Saudi-Chinese strategic partnership.
More than 700 high-level government representatives, senior officials, CEOs, investors, and entrepreneurs are participating in the conference, who are looking to review and discuss investment opportunities and initiatives to increase joint cooperation between the two countries.
The conference’s activities include several sessions on a number of topics of common interest in the fields of clean energy, money and investment, mining and minerals, in addition to a number of workshops that will address the fields of tourism and entertainment, food security, agriculture, logistics services, shipping and supply chains, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and industries. Transformational and modern and advanced technology.
The Federation of Saudi Chambers announced at the end of last December that the volume of trade exchange between Saudi Arabia and China during the years (2017 and 2021) reached 1.2 trillion riyals ($348 billion).
Swap in yuan and riyal
Last November, the central banks of China and Saudi Arabia announced that they had agreed to swap local currencies worth 50 billion yuan ($7 billion), or 26 billion Saudi riyals.
Saudi Arabia (the world’s largest oil exporter) and China (the world’s largest energy consumer) have been working for years to expand relations beyond cooperation in the field of hydrocarbons, as well as to enhance cooperation in areas such as security and technology.
The Chinese Central Bank said – in a statement – that the agreement, which will be valid for three years and can be extended with the approval of both sides, “will help strengthen financial cooperation between the two countries, expand the use of local currencies… and enhance trade and investment” between Riyadh and Beijing.
This step aims to ensure liquidity and exchange rate stability, which will reduce the risks of currency fluctuations for importers, exporters and dealers in financial markets.
According to Chinese customs data, China imported crude oil from Saudi Arabia worth $65 billion in 2022, representing about 83% of the Kingdom’s total exports to the Asian giant.