Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing, Reuters reports, citing an announcement by the Chinese Commerce Ministry. The ministers discussed scaling bilateral trade, capital markets cooperation, and joint ventures in new energy and industrial supply chains. Talks also touched on aligning China’s Belt and Road Initiative with Vision 2030.

Beijing is seeking Riyadh’s support to revive trade talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council, where progress has stalled amid concerns that cheap Chinese imports could disrupt Saudi’s strategy to build up domestic industry. For China, tightening commercial ties with Gulf partners is increasingly strategic as it faces trade frictions on two fronts with the US and European Union, both of which have raised tariffs on Chinese exports over cost and oversupply fears.

ICYMI- Saudi Arabia pulled in USD 35.5 bn in BRI energy investments in the first half of 2025,the largest globally, and another USD 7.2 bn in construction investments, ranking second worldwide. Earlier this year, The Saudi-Chinese Forum for Product Export and Agricultural Sustainability produced 57 agreements worth SAR 14 bn (USD 3.7bn). Aramco Asia Singapore established a USD 4 bn JV with Sinopec and Fujian Petrochemical to support port operations and crude flows, while Tencent Cloud put USD 150 mn toward launching the Middle East’s first AI-powered cloud region in Saudi.

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