Arab-China conference in Saudi Arabia sees $10bn agreements signed on first day

The opening day of this year's Arab-China Business Conference in Saudi Arabia on Sunday has seen $10 billion in agreements signed, according to sources.

Deals in the electric car industry reached $5 billion, sources told Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya.

It is anticipated contracts will total over $40 billion across the two days of the business event in Riyadh, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said.

Al Arabiya reported that the first day saw the host country's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan say China was a $430-billion trading partner for the Arab world, a higher figure than for any other country.

He also said Chinese leader Xi Jinping's trip to Saudi Arabia "further consolidated bilateral relations".

"The conference of Arab and Chinese businessmen is an opportunity for the private sector to discuss investment prospects," Prince Faisal said.

"It is also an opportunity to work on strengthening Arab-Chinese friendship and to work on building a shared future."

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman spoke about the issue of oil.

"When it comes to oil, oil demand in China is still growing. So of course, you have to capture some of that demand. So as chemical," he said.

"So of course we have to capture some of that demand. We want to invest in China, because we also have an ambitious program on crude to chemicals."

The 10th edition of the Arab-China Business Conference came after Prince Faisal, in a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, said Riyadh's relations with Beijing were not a "zero-sum game".

Prince Faisal played down talk that the kingdom was moving away from the US in favour of its rival China.

"I don't ascribe to this zero-sum game," Prince Faisal said in Riyadh.

"We are all capable of having multiple partnerships and multiple engagements and the US does the same in many instances.

"So I'm not caught up in this really negative view of this. I think we can actually build a partnership that crosses these borders."

China's growing role in the Middle East was demonstrated when it brokered a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March, seven years after the two heavyweights severed ties.

The deal, announced in Beijing, followed recent tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US, its decades-old security guarantor, mainly over human rights and oil prices.

But Blinken said on Thursday: "We've also been very clear we're not asking anyone to choose between the United States and China.

"We're simply trying to demonstrate the benefits of our partnership and the affirmative agenda that we bring."

(AFP, The New Arab, Reuters)