RIYADH: The historic visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia will further boost the partnership between the two major countries on the economic and political fronts.

The summit of the two heavyweight leaders, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and President Xi, both members of the G-20, has been warmly welcomed by the Saudi business community and the Chinese companies operating in the country.

They see it as a symbol of the growing partnership that will take both countries to a new height of cooperation in terms of investment and business opportunities.

Speaking to Arab News, entrepreneurs were upbeat about the outcome of such a summit between the two visionary leaders.

With China’s proposed initiatives of jointly building the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” for establishing a “1+2+3” cooperation pattern.

The goal is to take energy cooperation as the core, infrastructure construction and trade and investment facilitation as the two wings, and three high and new tech fields of nuclear energy, space satellite and new energy as the three breakthroughs. Accordingly, the idea of industrial capacity cooperation has been well received by Saudi Arabia.

In infrastructure development, the Aljomaih Group and the Sany Group represent a unique partnership. The former is a major regional distributor in each of its key business sectors with its Chinese partner, Sany Group Co. Ltd, one of the leading enterprises of global equipment manufacturing industry.

Sany Group is an equipment manufacturer that mainly focuses on construction machines. It produces concrete machinery, road machinery, hydraulic excavators, piling, hoisting and port machinery, wind turbines, oil equipment, high precision digital control machine tools and so on.

The two giant partners representing the two countries in their areas of coverage are among those who are expecting a big share from the landmark visit. According to a reliable source, top officials of the two firms have been invited by King Salman to attend one of their business meetings.

Both sides have a broad consensus on safeguarding state sovereignty and territorial integrity, defending national dignity, seeking political resolution to burning issues, and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East.

They are united in their joint mission of pursuing the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative. China is willing to coordinate development strategies with Saudi Arabia, benefit from their respective strengths and potential.

The way forward is to promote international production capacity and enhance cooperation in infrastructure development, trade and investment, nuclear power, space satellite, new energy, agriculture and finance.

Both leaders support broader participation by Chinese companies and financial institutions through cooperation in areas like railways, highways, ports, aviation, power and communications.

They also see a huge potential in navigation satellite, satellite ground stations and other infrastructure development fields, besides expanding cooperation in project operation.

According to the priority areas of development and regional needs, China is willing to cooperate in setting up major projects in Arab countries as well.