" We are ready to welcome this massive trade delegation from China which would exchange trade talks with our local businessmen in the capital, Al-Jeraisy told reporters at a press conference held at the SCCI headquarter here on Monday.

Al-Jeraisy said that China, being one of the major exporters to the Kingdom would not only look for new opportunities in the Kingdom but also would endeavor to consolidate the existing market by improving their quality and prices of Chinese goods.

" We are concerned about the quality of the imported goods to protect the Saudi  consumers from fraud and counterfeit products," Al-Jeraisy said, indicating that Chinese products in the Kingdom maintain the required standards and specifications spelt out by the government. Speaking of imported goods in general, Al-Jeraisy said  exporters  of such goods that fall below the standard requirements will be rejected and eliminated from the list of importers.

He said the dialogue between the businessmen of the two countries would help the two parties to understand  each other well and explore new areas of cooperation.

During the 2003-08 period, China-Saudi Arabia trade registered annual growth rates of 30 to 50 percent. In 2008, bilateral trade surged by 64.7 percent to $41.8 billion, two years ahead of the goal set in 2006.

Trade between the two regions during the first half of 2009 was only $12.71 billion, hurt largely by the global financial crisis. China exports textiles, mechanical and electrical products to Saudi Arabia but imports large quantity of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, leading to a trade deficit with the Kingdom . China's crude oil imports rose by over 12 percent last year to 800,000 barrels per day. During 2009, China's crude oil imports increased by 13.9 percent to 200 million tons.

In January this year, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said the Kingdom  wants to increase "exports of oil and nonoil products to China" and "boost bilateral investments". He also said both countries hoped to "end a conflict over anti-dumping measures imposed by China on some petrochemicals products."