About $50 billion of investment agreements were signed during the China summit held in Saudi Arabia last week, the kingdom’s investment minister said. The pacts included both the private and public sectors, Khalid Al Falih told Bloomberg on the sidelines of a conference Sunday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The ministry later said the agreements were only between Saudi Arabia and China, and did not include other Middle East countries that attended summits with the Chinese leader.

Last week’s summit in which Chinese President Xi Jinping was hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showcased the Gulf’s deepening ties with Beijing. But while the visit featured warm words about unity between China and the Middle East, most of the agreements announced were memorandums of understanding, and lacked firm timelines or commitments.

Saudi and Chinese companies signed more than 30 agreements covering green energy, logistics, cloud computing and housing, according to a statement. China is seeking to strengthen coordination with Saudi Arabia and its neighbors on energy policy and exploration. The kingdom, along with Russia, is the de facto leader of OPEC+, a producers’ cartel that pumps roughly half the world’s oil.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP