At the beginning of the Chinese New Year on February 6, 2025, a senior economic and trade delegation composed of 10 government departments and corporate institutions, including the Ministry of Investment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the ECZA, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, JABEEN, King Abdullah Economic City(KAEC), the General Authority of Civil Aviation, and ALAT, visited Guangzhou for an inspection. A series of docking activities were carried out to deepen economic and trade investment cooperation within the framework of the China-Saudi Arabia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. During this visit, iBuychem & BSR served as the liaison agency between China and Saudi Arabia, aiming to effectively promote the practical implementation of various cooperation matters.
I. High-level Docking to Deepen Consensus
The Saudi delegation held a working meeting with the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province. Zhu Xiaojun, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, pointed out that as a pioneer region of reform and opening up, Guangdong Province achieved a foreign trade import and export volume of 9.11 trillion yuan in 2024. A total of more than 340,000 foreign-funded enterprises have been established cumulatively, and the actual utilization of foreign capital has been nearly 600 billion US dollars. Foreign-funded enterprises contributed approximately 25% of the province’s tax revenue, 30% of its import and export volume, and the added value of industries above a designated size. In 2025, Guangdong Province will fully implement the “Top Leader” investment promotion project, hold more than a hundred “Invest in Guangdong” industrial chain investment promotion activities, and focus on introducing high-quality foreign-funded projects. It is recommended that the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and PIF establish economic and trade liaison offices in Guangdong Province, and PIF is invited to participate in the Overseas Sovereign Wealth Fund Institutions Symposium to be held in Hong Kong on March 20, to jointly explore innovative mechanisms and paths for cooperation in industrial funds.
II. Jointly Building Platforms to Consolidate the Foundation
As a municipal strategic investment platform, Guangzhou Industrial Investment Holding Group reached a consensus with the Saudi side and iBuychem on the proposed establishment of the Saudi-Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund. The fund will mainly invest in high-quality industrial projects in industries such as high-quality new energy, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, new transportation, new generation information technology, digital economy, and next-generation infrastructure in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Through fund investment, it will drive high-quality industrial projects in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to be launched and put into production in Saudi Arabia, and at the same time help achieve globalization. Relevant leaders of the Office of the Municipal Investment Development Committee also emphasized the hope of establishing inter-governmental framework agreements, industrial fund agreements, and practically promoting the implementation of cooperation, so as to create a demonstration carrier for China-Saudi Arabia production capacity cooperation.
III. Intensive Exchanges and On-site Inspections
During their stay in Guangzhou, the Saudi delegation also carried out intensive visits, exchanges, and on-site inspections. They respectively had exchanges and discussions with the Guangzhou Local Financial Supervision Administration and Yuexiu Group on how to build an international financial city in terms of policy formulation, investment, construction, investment promotion, and operation. They visited the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) and had exchanges on topics such as China-Saudi Arabia exhibition and trade economy, supply and procurement docking. They visited relevant leaders of the Huangpu Development Zone in Guangzhou and conducted on-site visits to key enterprises such as XPeng Motors and GAC Group, gaining a detailed understanding of the development achievements of the new energy vehicle industry cluster and discussing the cooperation directions and models between China and Saudi Arabia in the new energy vehicle industry chain. A working group meeting was held at iBuychem & BSR Company regarding the establishment of an energy and chemical trade investment cooperation docking and digital cross-border trading platform in Saudi Arabia.
IV. Summary of the Visit
This visit has achieved positive results. China and Saudi Arabia have reached a number of consensuses in areas such as investment, construction, investment promotion, operation management, industrial funds, and industry-finance integration cooperation in high-tech economic development zones and free trade zones. In the next step, the two sides will adhere to the concept of practicality, openness, and win-win results, improve the regular liaison and docking mechanism, promote China-Saudi Arabia economic and trade cooperation to a higher level, and implement the in-depth integration and connection between the Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 with high quality.
