Crown Prince Muqrin, deputy premier, receives Chinese Commerce Minister Gau Hucheng at his office in Riyadh on Monday. Prince Muqrin stressed Saudi Arabia’s desire to maintain stronger relations with China. (SPA)

Crown Prince Muqrin, deputy premier, held talks with visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Gau Hucheng at his office in Riyadh on Monday and said Saudi Arabia wanted to have stronger ties with China.

“The Kingdom attaches great importance to its relations with China, especially in economic and trade sectors,” the crown prince told the Chinese delegation. The meeting discussed prospects of expanding Saudi-China ties.

Prince Mansour bin Muqrin, adviser to the crown prince, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf and Abdul Aziz Al-Hawas, the crown prince’s private secretary, attended the talks.

Gau and his delegation were in Riyadh to attend the fifth Saudi-Chinese Joint Commission meetings, which concluded on Monday.

Finance Minister Al-Assaf said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman’s recent visit to China paved the way for strengthening relations between the two economic giants.

“The royal visit resulted in taking Saudi-Chinese relations new heights,” Al-Assaf told reporters. Bilateral trade exchange has reached SR267.4 billion with Saudi exports reaching SR189 billion and imports SR78.4 billion.

He said the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Kingdom shows the two leaderships’ desire to take bilateral ties to higher levels.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah received his Chinese counterpart Gau and discussed prospects of strengthening bilateral cooperation in the industrial and trade sectors. Al-Rabiah called for setting up more joint ventures in industrial and commercial sectors.

Also on Monday, Gau held talks with Abdullatif Al-Zayani, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council and discussed ways of developing trade relations between Beijing and GCC countries.

The Chinese minister commended the GCC for its efforts to expand cooperation between the two sides as well as the six-member group’s regional and international role.

“We would like to develop our relations with GCC states on the basis of the economic and trade agreements and strategic dialogue,” Gau said.

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