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The countries’ flags are depicted ahead of the Sino-Arab summit in Riyadh on Wednesday. Reuter
The red and gold Chinese emblem alternated with Saudi Arabia’s green flag along Riyadh’s main roads, while Xi appeared on the front pages of newspapers highlighting the economic outlook for travel.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, is Saudi oil’s biggest customer, the biggest crude exporter, and both sides appear poised to expand their market at a time of economic turbulence and geopolitical realignment.
The three days, only Xi’s third overseas since the coronavirus pandemic began, and his first in Saudi Arabia since 2016, come after US President Joe Biden’s stopover in July, when he unsuccessfully advocated for higher oil production.
It will come with bilateral meetings with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, as well as a summit with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and a broader Sino-Arab summit.
The program represents “the highest diplomatic activity between China and the Arab world since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Wednesday.
The official Saudi news firm said the kingdom accounted for more than 20% of Chinese investment in the Arab world between 2005 and 2020, “making it the largest Arab country to get Chinese investment in this period. “
Oil markets are expected to be one of the main pieces in the schedule of talks between China and Saudi Arabia, especially given the turbulence markets have experienced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The G7 and the European Union agreed on Friday to a $60 cap consistent with the value of a barrel in Russian oil in a bid to deprive the Kremlin’s war resources, injecting more uncertainty into markets.
On Sunday, the OPEC oil cartel led jointly by Saudi Arabia and Russia opted to keep the two million barrels in line with the daily production cuts approved in October.
Saudi and Chinese officials provided little information on the agenda, though Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the government, said he expected “the signing of a number of agreements. “
Beyond energy, analysts say leaders of either country are likely to talk about potential deals that may make Chinese corporations care more about megaprojects that are central to Prince Mohammed’s vision of diversifying the Saudi economy away from oil.
They come with a futuristic $500 billion megacity known as NEOM, a so-called cognitive city that will rely heavily on facial popularity and surveillance technology.
Press Agence France