Energy and trade will for sure occupy an important role in the meeting between Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but various other fields will be key in their talks, such as defense and security. Certainly energy cooperation is the foundation of relations between the two countries, Saudi Arabia is the world’s top exporter of crude oil and China is the world’s biggest importer, but China also offers important economic advantages to Saudi Arabia’s downstream and petrochemicals sectors, as the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (BASIC) already holds a stake in a polycarbonate complex in Tianjin with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation and Saudi Aramco holds a stake in the Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Company. Concerning the trade the visit was important to attract more Chinese investment to the Kingdom and the use of Chinese expertise to contribute to the diversification of the Saudi economy away from oil, due to China’s rapid economic development over the past three decades. Moreover also in the field of strategic relations, China is a key country and is a source of political support in the path of saudi selective economic reforms. Also counterterrorism is an emerging area of cooperation between the two countries, that includes a five-year plan for security cooperation including counterterrorism cooperation and joint military drills, and there is also a potential for chinese companies to win more Saudi defense procurement over the next decade and receive technology transfer.
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