Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and the leadership of Saudi Arabia agreed on Thursday to jointly promote the China-Saudi Arabia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The two sides will cooperate more closely in areas such as energy and national security. Also, the Chinese President pledged to deepen bilateral industrial cooperation, promote the development of the China-Saudi Arabia Industrial Park (Jizan), and construction of major infrastructure projects.

As the Chinese President stated, China regards the development of its relations with Saudi Arabia as a priority in its overall foreign relations, especially in its diplomacy in the Middle East. 

China will work with Saudi Arabia to achieve each other’s national revitalization, enhance synergy among development initiatives, deepen practical cooperation in all fields, increase communication and coordination in international and regional affairs and achieve even greater progress in the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership, the Chinese President said.

China, Xi Jinping stressed, firmly supports Saudi Arabia in maintaining its sovereignty, security, and stability, and supports it in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions, adding that China supports major development initiatives of Saudi Arabia, such as Vision 2030 and the Middle East Green Initiative. Furthermore, China will actively participate in the industrialization of Saudi Arabia and contribute to the diversified development of its economy.

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The two sides decided that they should seriously support China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. China will increase communication and coordination with Saudi Arabia on energy policy, expand the scale of crude oil trade, strengthen cooperation in research and development and implement the Sino-Saudi Gulei Ethylene Complex Project as well as other large-scale energy cooperation projects, Xi Jinping said.

For his part, Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, assured that Saudi Arabia firmly supports the “one China” principle, the safeguarding of Chinese sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity, and strongly supports China’s measures and efforts for de-radicalization, strongly rejecting interference in China’s internal affairs by any external forces under the pretext of human rights or otherwise.

Saudi Arabia will continue to actively participate in cooperation with China under the Belt and Road project and expand two-way trade and investment.

The two countries agreed to build major infrastructure and energy projects and strengthen cooperation in areas such as the automotive industry, science and technology, chemical industry, and mining.

Source: Euronews

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