Saudi Arabia reaffirms its economic rapprochement with China

China's influence in the Middle East is transforming the geopolitical reality marked by the vacuum gradually left by the United States. It was Beijing that made possible a diplomatic reset between Saudi Arabia and Iran that many did not expect to see even in the medium term. The conflict in Yemen was a big enough barrier to deny the optimism of those who put on the table a possible reconciliation that, through China, has finally arrived. And it is precisely this mediating posture that China is using to weave an even bigger web across the Middle East region.

The best way to do this is by strengthening ties that are already key for both Xi Jinping's country and Riyadh. This was reaffirmed by the Saudi country during the Arab-Chinese Businessmen's Forum being held in the Saudi Arabian capital. The Saudi foreign minister stressed the "mutual desire" to increase cooperation in economic matters with its Chinese ally, with whom they have already increased their trade volume by 30% over the past year 

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan opened the economic forum by calling it "an opportunity to strengthen the historic Arab-Chinese friendship and work to build a common future towards a new era that will bring prosperity to our peoples". He also referred to trade figures between the two countries, which amounted to 430 billion dollars last year. According to the minister, Riyadh sees this partnership as key to the Kingdom's aspirations to diversify the country's economy, with a special interest in boosting the private sector.

"Benefiting from China's technological progress" is one of the pillars that justify this increasingly close relationship between the Saudis and the Chinese. Saudi Arabia knows that the help it can get from Beijing should be key to its leadership aspirations. In fact, the minister himself explained in his speech at the forum that he hopes that this meeting "will help the Chinese side to explore investment opportunities in the Arab world". The event will feature some twenty working sessions focused on various fields, with special interest in the energy, transport, logistics services and e-commerce sectors.