Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Harbi Photo: Li Hao/GT

China has made amazing efforts in economic reform, infrastructure construction, and opening up trade among many other sectors and seen great achievements, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Harbi told the Global Times on the occasion of the 92nd anniversary of the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

He told the Global Times that he wished all the best for the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and all the success for the Chinese people.

Ambassador Al-Harbi said that he has been dealing with China-related affairs for the past seven years and has witnessed in person how China, through efforts in all sectors, became the second largest economy in the world.

He noted to the Global Times that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has lots of potential areas for cooperation with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. "We are working on that to meet both sides' interests and contribute to the development of bilateral relations."

Al-Harbi noted that China-Saudi Arabia relations have maintained an upward trend since 1990.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's historic visit to Saudi Arabia in 2016, bilateral ties were further enhanced to a comprehensive strategic partnership based on trust, common interests and mutual benefits, and that visit contributed to the establishment of a high-level joint committee that contributed to raising the level of cooperation between the two friendly countries to high levels and broad horizons, and created opportunities for further cooperation for the government and private sectors, for the interests of the two friendly countries and peoples, he said.

According to statistics, in the first six months of 2022, the total import and export volume between China and Saudi Arabia exceeded 357.1 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 40 percent year-on-year. "Many areas are full of hope," he said, adding that he was optimistic about future economic and trade cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia. "We will work together with China to achieve higher goals."

According to media reports, public statistics showed that China is Saudi Arabia's largest crude oil importer and trading partner. In 2021, China bought more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's oil exports. Meanwhile, both countries are in talks to settle Saudi oil sales to China in yuan.