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Abdullah gets warm welcome in China
Nothin' but love for the Soddies, everywhere they go...
BEIJING — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah arrived here yesterday morning to a warm welcome by high-ranking Chinese officials. The Chinese said they were honored by the royal visit, the first by a Saudi king to Beijing since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1990. The two leaders are also expected to discuss major regional and international issues, including Iraq, Iran and Palestine in addition to the global fight against terrorism. King Abdullah earlier met with members of the Saudi civil society delegation currently visiting China and praised their efforts in strengthening relations between the two countries. He urged the delegation to continue its endeavors to educate the Chinese people on various aspects of Saudi life and culture.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said bilateral trade rose by 39 percent to $14 billion between January and November 2005. He said China had imported 20.1 million tons of oil from Saudi Arabia during that period. Beijing imports about 450,000 barrels of Saudi oil daily which is about 14 percent of its total oil requirements.

Saudi Arabia has already offered investment projects worth $624 billion to foreign investors in the vital sectors of petrochemicals, gas, electric power generation, telecommunications, desalination and railways. It has also softened regulations in an attempt to attract foreign investment. Chinese firms won bids for construction contracts valued at several billion dollars in the Kingdom last year. The contracts were for projects including cement production, telecommunications, infrastructure and others. Saudi Aramco joined ExxonMobil and China’s top refiner, Sinopec, in signing a $3.5 billion deal to expand a refinery in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian. The Saudi firm is also in talks with Sinopec about investing in a plant in the northern city of Qingdao, the semi-official China News Service said. The agency quoted unidentified industry officials as saying China wanted to increase Saudi crude oil imports under fixed-term deals to limit the impact of price volatility.

Saudi ambassador to China, Saleh Al-Hujeilan, underlined the importance of the royal visit, adding that it would become a significant milestone in developing friendly relations between the two countries. As two important nations, China and Saudi Arabia will open new areas of cooperation and continue to strengthen exchanges in diplomacy, economy and trade, the ambassador said. “Closer contacts and cooperation between the two countries will surely exert a great influence on the Americans international society,” he added.
Posted by: Seafarious 2006-01-23
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=140524