While visiting Riyadh, Chinese premier calls for boosting collaboration on economy, Middle East regional affairs

RIYADH — China puts the development of relations with Saudi Arabia as a priority in its overall diplomacy, especially in its Middle East diplomacy, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Sept 11.

The premier made the remarks when meeting with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and co-chairing the Fourth Meeting of the High-Level Chinese-Saudi Joint Committee with him, in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

During their talks, Li conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s warm greetings to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the crown prince. He highlighted that under the strategic guidance of the two countries’ leaders, China and Saudi Arabia have maintained mutual respect, trust, and benefit, as well as mutual learning and understanding.

China is willing to firmly support Saudi Arabia and work toward mutual achievements, firmly regard each other’s development as an important opportunity, and further strengthen the role of the High-Level Chinese-Saudi Joint Committee, with the aim of advancing bilateral relations to new heights, Li said.

China is willing to work closely with Saudi Arabia and advance together on the path of development, the Chinese premier said.

He called on both sides to further expand bilateral trade, deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as oil and gas, petrochemicals and infrastructure, explore collaboration in emerging fields like new energy, information and communication, and the digital and green economies, while encouraging their respective companies to invest in each other’s countries and working together to maintain global industrial and supply chain stability.

For his part, the Saudi crown prince said that Saudi Arabia and China have a long history of friendly exchanges.

Under the strategic guidance of King Salman and President Xi, Saudi Arabia-China relations have maintained a high level of development, and the two countries are reliable comprehensive strategic partners to each other, he added.

With high-level political mutual trust and deepening cooperation in various fields, Saudi Arabia looks forward to further strengthening high-level exchanges with China, fully utilizing the High-Level Saudi-Chinese Joint Committee mechanism, aligning development strategies more closely, and enhancing communication and cooperation in areas such as energy, investment, finance, and culture and people-to-people exchanges, so as to better serve the benefits of the two peoples, the crown prince said.

Saudi Arabia highly appreciates China’s just stance on the Palestinian issue and is ready to collaborate closely with China on international multilateral affairs, contributing to the maintenance of regional and global peace, security, and stability, he told Li.

During the visit, the two sides signed several bilateral cooperation documents on technical and vocational training, meteorology, and other areas.

Speaking at a meeting on Sept 11 with representatives from the Saudi business community, Li said that China welcomes more companies from the country to visit and explore opportunities in China to better share in its development dividends.

On Sept 11, the Chinese premier also held talks with Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi.

China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with GCC countries to further deepen cooperation for mutual benefits, Li said, calling on the two sides to strengthen the alignment of their development strategies and speed up negotiations on free trade agreement.

Albudaiwi said the first China-GCC Summit attended by President Xi Jinping and leaders from GCC countries in 2022 was a milestone in advancing the relationship.