Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a three-day visit

the chinese president Xi Jinping He will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a three-day visit, his first since 2016, state media from the Gulf kingdom, the world’s top crude exporter, announced on Tuesday.

The visit includes a bilateral summit with Saudi leaders, including the powerful crown prince Mohamed bin Salman, as well as meetings with leaders of other Arab and Gulf countries, indicated the official SPA press agency.

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After almost three years locked up in China during the pandemic, Xi Jinping resumed his international agenda in recent months with trips to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and participated in the G20 summit in Indonesia.

Chinese leader’s visit It comes at a time of high tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States. for issues ranging from energy policies to regional security, including human rights.

The latest dispute occurred in October, when the main oil-producing countries agreed to cut their crude production quotas by two million barrels a day to support prices.

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The president of United States, Joe Bidenconsidered the measure “disappointing” at a time when it is trying to contain the escalation of prices and the White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, declared that with this decision, “Opec+ aligns itself with Russia”.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its 10 allies agreed on Sunday to maintain current production levels.

China buys about a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s crude exports, making it its biggest customer.

In addition to the energy issue, analysts believe that both leaders will discuss the possibility of China having a greater participation in the crown prince’s mega-projects, which are trying to diversify the kingdom’s economy.

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Among these projects is the futuristic megacity Neom, which will integrate facial recognition systems and surveillance technologies.

Xi last visited Saudi Arabia in 2016, a year before Prince Mohammed became first in line to the throne.

Prince Mohamed visited China and met Xi on a tour of Asia in 2019.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.