At the end of the 10th edition of the Arab-Chinese Business Conference, which took place in Riyadh on June 11-12, Saudi Arabia was effectively able to shift the focus of participating nations from the political sphere to the economic domain.
The event was marked by the signing of a multitude of deals and agreements, surpassing a total value of $10 billion.
This comes in the wake of the successful inaugural Arab-Chinese Cooperation and Development Summit held in Riyadh at the end of 2022, where all parties reached positive outcomes and agreed upon 24 points of cooperation across various regional and international issues, further enhancing strategic partnerships.
Economic Diversification
During the conference, involved countries expressed their interest in increasing investments and promoting regular communication among companies, research institutions, and development organizations. This collaboration aims to contribute to economic transformation and diversification.
At the conclusion of the tenth session of the Arab-China Business Conference and the eighth session of the Investment Symposium, the Arab and Chinese sides reached nine agreements as part of the “Riyadh Declaration.”
These agreements primarily focus on enhancing economic, trade, investment, and financial partnerships to serve common interests and contribute to fulfilling the aspirations of both sides within the frameworks of Arab countries’ visions and strategies, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.
Furthermore, the agreements address developmental challenges and call for the establishment of a new modern Silk Road.
Quality Projects
Participants agreed to explore further new opportunities to enhance cooperation and investment in all economic sectors, including priority quality projects.
They also decided to maintain effective participation in Arab-Chinese- cooperation in qualitative fields such as energy, renewable energy, digital economy, entrepreneurship, investment, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and encouraging operating companies and specialized institutions from both sides to enhance communication and cooperation in the fields of advanced and vital industries.
Information Exchange
The parties also agreed on encouraging companies and research and development institutions from both sides to communicate periodically, to contribute to economic transformation and diversification, enhance the exchange of information on investment projects, their legal frameworks, and investment policies related to those projects, work to promote them and provide the necessary support for them, and benefit from the leading Chinese experience in the field of scientific research and innovation.
They also emphasized the importance of human resources in the Arab world to launch cooperation potentials between the Arab countries and China, exchange experiences, and organize training courses for technical training and capacity building.
Supply Chains
Participants appreciated the response of Arab and Chinese industrial and commercial bodies to the calls of governments, and their role in deepening solidarity, cooperation, and political support, enhancing information exchange, resuming the movement of people exchange appropriately and regularly, accelerating the pace of resumption of work and production, and working to stabilize financial markets and supply chains.
They agreed to work to address the negative effects of the Corona pandemic, the global economic recession, and the repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis as a priority for the international community and economic recovery.
Carbon Emissions
The countries agreed to work towards enhancing the multilateral trading system in accordance with the rules and principles of the World Trade Organization.
They emphasized the importance of reducing carbon emissions as committed by both Arab countries and China until 2060, which is expected to lead to the addition of about (1000) gigawatts of renewable energy to be added to the Arab region and the African region, which gives the private sector in the Arab world and China opportunities to expand investments in the value chain in this field.
