RIYADH: Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a three-day visit, his first visit to the world’s largest crude oil exporter since 2016, Saudi state media reported on Tuesday.
The visit will be attended by a bilateral summit chaired by Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, officials. Saudi Press Agency Reported
Xi, head of the world’s second-largest economy, will also attend a summit with the rulers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and hold talks with leaders of other Middle Eastern countries, the official news agency said.
The Chinese leader’s arrival coincides with rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States over issues ranging from energy policy to regional security and human rights.
The decades-old partnership was dealt the latest blow in October when the OPEC+ oil bloc agreed to cut production by 2 million barrels a day, a move the White House said was a “alignment with Russia” over the war in Ukraine. is synonymous.
On Sunday, OPEC+ opted to keep those cuts in place.
China is Saudi Arabia’s largest customer of crude oil, buying about a quarter of Saudi oil exports.
In addition to energy, analysts say the leaders of the two countries are expected to discuss potential deals that could see Chinese firms become more deeply involved in mega-projects that Prince Mohammed has planned for Saudi Arabia. Central to the vision of transitioning the economy away from oil.
These plans include a future $500 billion megacity called NEOM, a so-called cognitive city that will rely heavily on facial recognition and surveillance technology.
Xi last visited Saudi Arabia in 2016, a year before Prince Mohammed became first in line to the throne, on a trip that also included stops in Egypt and Saudi rival Iran.
Prince Mohammed visited China and met with Xi on his Asia tour in 2019.