Saudi Arabia, China Sign Strategic Deals Worth $30 Billion

Saudi Arabia and China showcased deepening ties with a series of strategic deals on Thursday during a visit by President Xi Jinping, including one with tech giant Huawei.

King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” with Xi. Agreements worth about $30 billion were being signed on Thursday, Saudi state media said.

Earlier on Thursday, Saudi state media announced 34 investment agreements in sectors including green hydrogen, information technology, transport and construction. State broadcaster Al Ekhbariya said another 20 agreements worth 110 billion riyals ($29.3 billion) were due to be signed.

XI and King Salman “agreed to hold a heads of state meeting between the two countries in turn every two years,” Chinese state media said.

A memorandum with China’s Huawei Technologies, on cloud computing and building high-tech complexes in Saudi cities, was agreed.

Huawei has participated in building 5G networks in most Middle Eastern countries.