The 8th Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, from October 29th to 31st. In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Chinese and Saudi Arabian business people said that the two countries complement each other's advantages in the fields of energy, infrastructure and digital economy, etc., and have broad prospects for investment cooperation.

On Oct. 31st, people attended the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

[Photo/news.cn]

In recent years, China-Saudi Arabia cooperation in the field of investment has been constantly growing, with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Saudi Aramco Oil Company, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and a number of Saudi private companies investing in China. At the same time, more and more Chinese companies are doing business in Saudi Arabia.

During this year's FII conference, the subsidiaries of the Saudi International Power and Water Company (SIPWC) and the Lujiazui Administration of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Management Committee signed an agreement to establish a global innovation center in Shanghai. Lv Yunhe, executive vice president and general manager of SIPWC in China, said that the company focuses on renewable energy, green hydrogen and desalination, and China's supply chain enterprises in these fields have advanced technologies and competitive solutions, therefor both sides make their respective advantages complementary to each other for win-win cooperation.

He introduced that Saudi Arabia is undergoing its industrialization and modernization, while China has built up a complete industrial supply chain system. "Not only in our sector, but also in the fields of electric vehicles, mining, etc., there is increasing cooperation between enterprises of the two countries."

On Oct. 31st, people attended the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

[Photo/news.cn]

Yang Zhiyuan, general manager of the China Harbor Middle East Regional Management Center, said that Saudi Arabia has made great efforts to attract foreign investment in recent years, and has continued to improve its business environment by introducing new investment laws, establishing special economic zones, and reforming policies and regulatory frameworks. With the advancement of "Vision 2030", Saudi Arabia is playing an increasingly important role in the global market.

In the future, China-Saudi Arabia investment cooperation has broad prospects and huge potential, and the two sides have enormous scope for cooperation in many fields such as infrastructure, transportation, logistics, new energy, digital economy, and advanced manufacturing, Yang added.

Mohammed Al Ajlan, vice chairman of Saudi Arabia's Ajlan & Bros Holding Group (Ajlan & Bros) and chairman of the Saudi-China Business Council (SCBC), said that China has gained an upper hand in infrastructure, energy resources, green development, digital economy and other fields, and Middle Eastern countries and enterprises are sharing development dividends in their cooperation with China. Meanwhile, in addition to the traditional oil and gas trade, the special agricultural products from Arab countries are entering the Chinese market through e-commerce platforms.

He noted that Ajlan & Bros hopes to further seize the development opportunities brought about by Chinese path to modernization and to strengthen investment exchanges with Chinese enterprises as well.

Chen Debin, the general manager of the Saudi office of China Railway 18th Bureau Group, believes that Saudi Arabia will gain unprecedented opportunities in its infrastructure construction and tourism development through hosting a series of large-scale sports events such as the 2027 Asian Cup football tournament, and there is much room for cooperation between Chinese and Saudi Arabian enterprises in these areas.