JEDDAH: Mutual trade between Saudi Arabia and China is set to grow further, said Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping here yesterday.
“The situation is favorable for further growth of economic cooperation in diverse fields between Kingdom and China,” Xi said while addressing a meeting of Saudi and Chinese businessmen held at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) yesterday.
Xi arrived in Jeddah on Saturday to participate in yesterday’s energy meeting hosted by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
More than 200 Chinese businessmen were present at the JCCI meeting.
Xi also met with King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan during his stay in Saudi Arabia.
“The Kingdom is our largest economic partner in the Middle East as the volume of trade between us is on the path of continuous growth,” he said.
The Chinese vice president pointed out that his visit to the Kingdom was significant because it provided an opportunity for his country’s businessmen to meet with their Saudi counterparts in the backdrop of the expanding mutual trade and joint ventures in the private sectors of both the countries.
Addressing the forum Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal Alireza said the volume of trade between the two countries reached SR93 billion last year from SR5 billion 10 years ago.
“There are currently 57 Saudi-Chinese joint projects with a total capital of SR2 billion apart from contracts to explore and manufacture natural gas in the Al-Ruba Al-Khali (the Empty Quarter) and Saudi Aramco’s participation in oil projects in China,” the minister said.
Wan Jifei, chairman of the Chinese Council of International Trade, told a press conference following the business meet that about 20,000 Saudi traders and investors visited China last year bringing their investment to $208 million. Wan also commended the special status enjoyed by the Kingdom in the area of energy and petrochemicals.
Saleh Al-Turki, chairman of the JCCI, said that bilateral relations between the two countries reached their highest levels, especially after the landmark visit of King Abdullah to Beijing and Chinese President Hu Jintao’s to Riyadh in 2006.
Turki added that the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce is currently preparing a plan to increase the joint meetings and mutual visits from 2009. Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trading partner in West Asia and North Africa, while China is Kingdom’s fourth largest trading partner. In the first quarter of this year, Saudi-China trade registered a year-on-year increase of 77.4 percent to reach $8.5 billion. In 2007, China imported 25 million tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, its main energy supplier.
