On September 23th, 2021, the Royal Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Guangzhou held an official reception to celebrate the 91st Anniversary of the founding of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

(Photo provided to Newsgd.com)

Offering a buffet of Arabian food, Abdullah Zafer H. Bin Abiyah, Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Guangzhou welcomed the guests and then introduced traditional Saudi Arabian culture to the guest of honor Chen Guangjun, Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs Office, People’s Government of Guangdong Province.

Abdullah Zafer H. Bin Abiyah (M) introduces traditional Saudi Arabian culture to Chen Guangjun (L1) (Photo provided to Newsgd.com)

Addressing the reception, Abiyah pointed out that the synergy between Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has enhanced friendship and facilitated development on both sides, “especially in the fields of economy, trade, and culture”.

“Saudi Arabia has become the largest trading partner of China in West Asia and Africa, the bilateral trade between two countries is increasing steadily, reaching 90 billion dollars,” said Abiyah.

Chen, in his remarks, reviewed the high-level exchanges and close collaboration between the two countries in international affairs in recent years and further pinpointed Guangdong’s role in this bilateral cooperation. He listed the import and export volume between Guangdong and Saudi Arabia, which had seen a continuous increase for 3 consecutive years from 75.89 billion USD in 2018 to 90.81 billion USD in 2020.

Now, Guangdong is pushing ahead with the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and actively engaged in the BRI cooperation. With the issue of a general plan for building a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone and a plan for further developing a Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation zone, there will be more opportunities for deeper cooperation between Guangdong and Saudi Arabia.

“We are ready to join hands with our Saudi friends in further promoting the BRI and Vision 2030 as well as to make our cooperation more productive and fruitful in a higher level, particularly in the fields such as energy, trade, and high technology,” said Chen.

According to Chen, the China-Saudi Arabia (Jizan) Industrial Park, as an important production capacity cooperation project between Guangdong and Saudi Arabia, which highly fits the BRI and Vision 2030, will be carried out in good quality and completed in due time with the Consulate General being the bridge of communication, thus setting a model of China-Saudi Arabia cooperation in the future.

Author | Lydia Liu

Editor | Keane, Jerry