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Chinese President Jiang Zemin (R) talks with
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and First Deputy
Prime Minister Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz (L)
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RIYADH, Oct 31 (AFP) - President arrived here Sunday for the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a Chinese head of state saying he hoped it would "contribute to the strengthening of cooperation and ties."
He looked forward to the opportunity "to see for myself the achievements of the Saudi people particularly in the economic and social fields," he told the official SPA news agency on his arrival at the airport where he was greeted by King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdel Aziz.
His four-day visit will focus on talks on boosting trade and Chinese imports of Saudi oil.
The Chinese president is making his last stop on a six-nation tour that began October 18 and included Britain, France, Portugal, Morocco and Algeria.
He is due to have talks with King Fahd and the crown prince, who is handling the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom because of the monarch's poor health and visited China a year ago.
A Chinese diplomat told AFP Saturday that Jiang would sign a deal to increase imports of Saudi oil by one million tons from the present level of 2.4 million tons a year.
Saudi Arabia has long lobbied to increase oil exports to Beijing, which became a net importer of crude in 1993 following rapid economic expansion.
A joint committee chaired by the two nations' trade ministers will meet Monday to review cooperation, including the oil sector, the diplomat said.
Chinese diplomatic sources had earlier said the talks would include "economic and technical cooperation", and could also see the signing of an agreement to set up a joint venture refinery in China to process Saudi crude.
Trade between Saudi Arabia and China has grown since 1995, reaching 6.4 billion riyals (1.7 billion dollars) last year. Saudi Arabia is now China's largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa.
China mainly exports textiles and electronics while Saudi Arabia exports oil and oil-related products.
Chinese Ambassador Yuxing Zhi told Saturday's Al-Jazira newspaper that Jiang's talks would also cover regional developments, such as the peace process, as well as "other issues of common interest."
Jiang will meet Monday the powerful governor of Riyadh, Prince Salman, and the secretary-general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Jamil al-Hujailan, as well as Saudi businessmen.
On Tuesday he will have talks with the crown prince and give a lecture on Sino-Arab relations and ties between China and Saudi Arabia at Riyadh's King Abdel Aziz library.
The two countries exchanged ambassadors in 1990, although they had military contact prior to that.
Riyadh bought about 10 Chinese-made medium-range surface-to-surface missiles in 1988, which provoked US anger over fears of threats to Israel.
