China's Li, Saudi crown prince discuss cooperation in Riyadh meeting
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1 of 5 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and China's Prime
Minister Li Qiang are pictured in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 11,
2024. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
[1/5]Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and China's Prime Minister Li Qiang
are pictured in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 11, 2024. Saudi Press
Agency/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights BEIJING/DUBAI,
Sept 11 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed Bin Salman discussed cooperation in several sectors including
energy, investment and trade in a meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, the
Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Earlier,
Li had urged Beijing and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which
includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to accelerate free
trade negotiations.
Li made his remarks in a meeting in Riyadh with GCC Secretary General Jasem al-Budaiwi, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.
SPA reported that al-Budaiwi had stressed the importance of moving forward and finalising the trade talks in the "near future".
The free trade negotiations have
stalled
over concerns by Saudi Arabia about cheap Chinese imports, with sources
telling Reuters in May that the talks were at an impasse.
Saudi
Arabia is worried that a wave of lower cost Chinese versions of
products that it hopes to manufacture domestically would be damaging to
its industrial agenda, the sources said.
China and the GCC, which also includes Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, started free trade negotiations nearly 20 years ago.
Li
said the two sides should further expand the scale of bilateral trade,
deepen cooperation in fields from oil and gas, petrochemicals and
infrastructure to emerging fields such as new energy and the green
economy, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry.
Saudi
Arabia is willing to work closely with China on multilateral affairs to
maintain peace, security and stability in the region and globally, Li
said according to the Ministry.
Li
arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday evening where he will meet UAE Vice
President and Prime Minister Mohammed, the Foreign Ministry said.
Reporting
by Farah Master in Hong Kong, Ella Cao in Beijing and Alexander
Cornwell and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Editing by Angus MacSwan and
Christopher Cushing