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[text/ruan jiaqi, observer network]

saudi arabia's minister of industry and mineral resources bandar al-khorayef led an industry delegation to the last stop of his week-long trip to asia - guangzhou and hong kong, china, to seek more cooperation with chinese companies in areas such as automobiles and automation.

according to a report by the hong kong media south china morning post on september 9, hulayev said in an interview in hong kong last saturday (7th) that saudi arabia is willing to "try new things" and is "open to new ideas" including using rmb in cross-border crude oil transaction settlement. in addition, he also said that chinese companies related to metals, pharmaceuticals, smart cities, robots and renewable energy are welcome to invest in saudi arabia.

the south china morning post reported that china is expanding the influence of the rmb in international trade more broadly. in november 2023, china and saudi arabia signed a bilateral local currency swap agreement with a swap size of 50 billion rmb/26 billion saudi riyals. the agreement is valid for three years and can be extended by mutual consent. this marks a milestone in financial cooperation between riyadh and beijing.

at the same time, the wider use of the yuan in cross-border crude oil trade settlements, or the "petro-yuan," is seen as the next step in the internationalization of the yuan and a challenge to the ubiquitous dollar in global commodity markets.

asked about the petroyuan, hulayev said: "we believe saudi arabia will do what is in its best interest... i think saudi arabia is always trying new things, open to new ideas, and we try not to mix politics with business."

hulayev reportedly described saudi arabia's domestic view of using the "petroyuan" in transactions as "positive", but he did not give a specific implementation timetable.

“from a business perspective, between suppliers and customers, i think such an arrangement can be achieved according to the free will of both parties,” hulayev added. “it is not something we consider from a policy perspective.”

report citings&p globala report released by ratings firm s&p global ratings in august said that deepening economic relations between china and saudi arabia will promote the use of the renminbi in oil purchases. the report pointed out that this is expected to "provide more channels" for bilateral settlements using the renminbi "in an increasingly wide range of areas", especially as chinese investment is helping saudi arabia achieve its "vision 2030" goals.

the saudi industrial and mining system delegation led by hulayev aims to strengthen bilateral relations, attract high-quality chinese investment, and help saudi arabia achieve economic diversification. according to the south china morning post, saudi arabia is interested in chinese products such as electric vehicles, c919 passenger aircraft, and renewable energy infrastructure, and hopes to cooperate with chinese companies in the fields of metals, pharmaceuticals, smart cities, robots, and renewable energy.

according to the information from the ministry of foreign affairs’ west asia and north africa department’s wechat account “middle east outlook”, the saudi delegation attended meetings in guangzhou, including with automakers.gac group, lithium battery maker ronghui general lithium and communications technology giant huawei.

"we welcome chinese companies to invest in electric vehicles," hulayev said. his office also mentioned in a statement released before the visit that "the goal of the delegation's visit to china is to strengthen cooperation with china and make saudi arabia a key automotive center in the region and a leader in innovative and environmentally friendly automotive solutions."

according to the saudi arabian ministry of industry and mineral resources, china is saudi arabia's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade exceeding $100 billion in 2023. data shows that china's investment in saudi arabia in 2023 includes $5.6 billion in automotive original equipment manufacturing, $5.26 billion in mining and $4.26 billion in semiconductors.

chinese data showed that from january to july this year, china's total exports to saudi arabia amounted to $27.55 billion, up nearly 12% from the same period last year. at the same time, china's total imports from saudi arabia fell 7.3% from the same period last year to $34.97 billion.

according to the chinese embassy in saudi arabia on the 10th, saudi arabia's economic daily published a written interview with chinese ambassador to saudi arabia chang hua on september 9. ambassador chang introduced the exchanges and cooperation in the economic and trade fields between china and saudi arabia and the development of china's economy.

ambassador chang said that currently, china is saudi arabia's largest trading partner, and saudi arabia is china's largest trading partner in west asia and north africa. the bilateral trade volume between china and saudi arabia has exceeded us$100 billion for two consecutive years, accounting for more than 35% of the total trade volume between china and the gcc countries during the same period.

last year, saudi minister of investment khalid al-falih visited china twice and witnessed the signing of more than 60 memorandums and agreements between the two sides at the china-saudi arabia investment summit held in beijing, with a total value of us$25 billion. in july this year, saudi public investment fund president and chairman of saudi aramco rumeyan visited china. the saudi public investment fund is actively studying the establishment of offices in beijing, shanghai and shenzhen, china, and the beijing office is expected to open before the end of 2024. in august, the shenzhen stock exchange, together with financial regulatory authorities, market institutions and high-quality a-share listed companies, held the "new horizons for investing in china" a-share listed company promotion event in riyadh to showcase the open attitude and development potential of china's capital market to saudi arabia and the middle east.

regarding the cooperation between the two countries in the field of automobile industry, ambassador chang introduced that in 2023, the total value of automobiles and related products imported by saudi arabia from china was 4.12 billion us dollars. chinese automobile manufacturers such as changan, geely, mg, chery, great wall, hongqi, gac,bydchina has set up branches in saudi arabia, and chinese-made cars can be seen everywhere on the streets of saudi arabia. some companies are discussing cooperation with saudi arabia to build factories.

in the field of renewable energy, chinese companies are currently involved in the construction and development of multiple solar power generation projects in saudi arabia, including the world's largest photovoltaic power station project, the 2.6 gw photovoltaic power station project in alshom. in july this year, renewable energy localization company ("relc"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the saudi public investment fund, signed agreements with three chinese companies, namely, envision technology group,jinkosolarandtcl centralan agreement was signed to establish three joint ventures, which plan to build and operate high-efficiency photovoltaic cell and module projects in saudi arabia to produce photovoltaic crystal wafers, wind turbines and key components.

the article stressed that relevant departments of china and saudi arabia are working together to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen coordination, deepen cooperation in areas such as energy, trade, investment, and finance, expand cooperation in emerging areas such as clean energy and high technology, and promote greater development of the china-saudi arabia comprehensive strategic partnership.

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