Saudi Arabia to host regional center for Chinese factories, says Saudi Energy Minister

Riyadh, The Gulf Observer: Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia will host a regional center for Chinese factories. “Saudi Arabia and China endeavor to enhance cooperation in the energy sector supply chains, by establishing a regional center for Chinese factories in the Kingdom by taking advantage of the Kingdom’s distinguished location among the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe,” he said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency on the occasion of the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-Chinese summit in Riyadh.

Prince Abdulaziz affirmed that Saudi Arabia would continue to remain China’s trustworthy and reliable partner in the energy field as well as in ensuring the global oil market stability.

The minister noted that the relations between Saudi Arabia and China are witnessing a qualitative leap that reflects the interest of the leadership of the two friendly countries, and their keenness to further develop them in diverse fields.

“The Kingdom has strong relations and close strategic ties with China, covering many fields, the most important of which are various fields of energy. China has become the first destination for Saudi Arabia’s petroleum exports in terms of the huge volume of trade exchange between the two countries and its continuous annual growth over the last five years,” he said while noting that the Saudi-Chinese relations in the field of energy have contributed to materializing many joint investments.

Prince Abdulaziz underscored the keenness of both sides to work to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy. He also underlined the importance of constantly exchanging views between the two sides, in their capacity as the most important energy-producing and consuming countries in the world.

The minister emphasized the impact of cooperation between the two countries in maintaining the stability of the global oil market, and their constant endeavor to continue effective communication and enhance cooperation to meet future challenges.

Prince Abdulaziz reviewed areas of cooperation between the two sides, mainly through projects to convert crude oil into petrochemicals, renewable energy, clean hydrogen, electricity projects and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. He also cited collaboration and joint investments between the two countries, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as investment in integrated refining and petrochemical complexes in both countries.

Prince Abdulaziz affirmed the two countries’ keenness to enhance joint cooperation in the field of renewable energy. “China is one of the leading countries and one of the largest manufacturers in this field, and therefore, it is one of the most important partners to promote the renewable energy sector in the Kingdom as it aims to achieve its share of renewable energy in the national energy mix used in the electricity production reach 50 percent by 2030,” he added.