Chinese Joint Commission began here Sunday under the co-chairmanship of Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf and Chinese Trade Minister Chen Deming. In his speech at the session, Al-Assaf highlighted the role of the Commission in cementing bilateral relations in the economic, trade, technical and investment domains. Al-Assaf recalled the visit to China in 2006 by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, and the visits to the Kingdom by the Chinese president in 2006 and 2009 and the agreements signed on the fringes of these visits. In 2008, Al-Assaf said the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries amounted to more than $40 billion. Al-Assaf hoped that the Chinese market would be open for the Saudi non-petroleum commodities. He lauded the Saudi economy and said despite the world economic crisis, it was capable of implementing its reform programs and updating its systems. “I was happy when I heard the Chinese ambassador to the Kingdom say that the Chinese companies have obtained contracts for implementing 100 projects of infrastructure in the Kingdom with a total cost of about SR44 billion,” he noted. He also called on other Chinese companies to contribute to implementation of varied projects in the Kingdom. Al-Assaf hailed the existing distinguished relations between the two countries and their coordination on a number of issues like the climate change. He said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Kingdom amounted to about SR1trillion and SR400 billion in 2009. Al-Assaf said the Kingdom has been doing its best to support efforts of economic integration among the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as among the Arab countries. “Moreover, the Kingdom is keen on the stability of the global economy,” he said. He noted that the Kingdom is also keen on maintaining the stability of the world petroleum market. Al-Assaf pointed out that the Kingdom has allocated large sums of money for supporting investments in petrochemicals, minerals, energy, transport and health sectors. The meeting was attended by a number of senior officials.
