Fri, December 9, 2022
BEIJING,
Dec 9 (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping said in Riyadh on Friday
that China and Gulf nations should make full use of the Shanghai
Petroleum and National Gas Exchange as a platform to carry out yuan
settlement of oil and gas trade.
China and states of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) are natural partners for cooperation, Xi said
in a speech at the China-GCC summit.
"China will continue to
import large quantities of crude oil from GCC countries, expand imports
of liquefied natural gas, strengthen cooperation in upstream oil and gas
development, engineering services, storage, transportation and
refining, and make full use of the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas
Exchange as a platform to carry out yuan settlement of oil and gas
trade," he said.
In his speech, Xi proposed other areas for
cooperation in the next three to five years, including finance and
investment, innovation and new technologies, as well as aerospace, and
language and cultures.
"China is willing to carry out financial
regulatory cooperation with GCC countries, facilitate GCC enterprises to
enter China's capital market, establish a joint investment association
with GCC, support sovereign wealth funds of both sides to cooperate in
various forms," Xi said.
China will also establish bilateral
investment and economic cooperation working mechanisms, carry out local
currency swap cooperation and deepen digital currency cooperation, he
said.
In his speech, Xi also called on China and GCC nations to be partners in promoting unity, development and security.
Xi's
visit comes at a time when Riyadh's long-standing alliance with
Washington has been strained over human rights issues, energy policy and
Russia, as well as Gulf doubts about the commitment of main security
guarantor America to the region. (Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Toby
Chopra and Philippa Fletcher)