Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday urged Beijing and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to speed up free trade negotiations, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Li made the remarks during a meeting in Riyadh with GCC Secretary-General Jassim Al-Budaiwi.
The Saudi Press Agency said that Al-Badawi stressed during the meeting the importance of moving forward and concluding trade talks in the near future.
Free trade negotiations have stalled over Saudi concerns about cheap Chinese imports, with sources telling Reuters in May that talks had reached a dead end.
Saudi Arabia is concerned that cheaper Chinese versions of products it hopes to manufacture locally could hurt its industrial agenda, the sources said.
China and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, began free trade negotiations about 20 years ago.
The volume of trade exchange between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries amounted to about $287 billion in 2023, according to Chinese customs data, while Saudi Arabia accounts for nearly 40% of the volume of trade exchange between the Gulf and China, according to GCC data.
China sees the Middle East as a key part of its Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project and a cornerstone of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bid to cement his country’s global economic standing.
In 2022, Xi visited Saudi Arabia with the aim of strengthening economic and diplomatic rapprochement between the Asian giant and Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to attract Chinese investors for its mega projects, especially the futuristic megacity of Neom, which it is building in its desert overlooking the Red Sea at a cost exceeding $500 billion.
Riyadh seeks to involve Chinese companies more deeply in mega projects that are central to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, away from oil.
