Saudi Arabia says US$50b investments agreed at China summit

ABOUT US$50 billion of investment agreements were signed during the China summit held in Saudi Arabia last week, the kingdom’s investment minister said, without giving details on the types of deals or countries involved.

The pacts included both the private and public sectors, Khalid Al Falih told Bloomberg on the sidelines of a conference on Sunday (Dec 11) in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He didn’t specify whether the figure also reflected agreements involving other Arab nations whose leaders attended too.

Last week’s summit in which Chinese President Xi Jinping was hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showcased the Gulf’s deepening ties with Beijing. But while the visit featured warm words about unity between China and the Middle East, most of the agreements announced were memorandums of understanding and lacked firm timelines or commitments.

China is seeking to strengthen coordination with Saudi Arabia and its neighbours on energy policy and exploration. The kingdom, along with Russia, is the de facto leader of Opec+, a producers’ cartel that pumps roughly half the world’s oil. BLOOMBERG