Beijing, Jumada I 13, 1435, Mar 14, 2014, SPA -- Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in Beijing on a state visit to China, today paid a visit to China's Vice President Li Yuanchao.
Upon arrival at the venue, a photo session was held.
Then, a meeting between the Saudi side, led by the Crown Prince, and the Chinese side, led by the Vice President, took place at the outset of which the Vice President welcomed the Crown Prince, confirming the keenness of the Crown Prince on boosting the friendly relations between the two counties, citing the great contributions he made to enhance cooperation between the Kingdom and China.
The Chinese Vice President asserted that the Kingdom enjoys a great status as China's most important partner in the Middle East and Arab Gulf region, noting that China attaches great interest to the visit of Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and that the keenness of the Chinese leadership to meet with the Crown Prince is the best evidence of the firmness of relations and the interest to develop them.
Then Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz delivered the following speech:
'His Excellency Mr. Li Yuanchao, Vice President of the Peoples Republic of China, Their Honorable and Excellencies,
Let me first extend my thanks to Your Excellency for the kind invitation extended to me to visit your friendly country, the home of civilization and deep-rooted history,
I, also, offer my thanks for the cordial feelings you have expressed towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This visit comes as an extension to the visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud eight years ago that laid the foundation for a new era of relations between our two countries.
Your Excellency,
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, attaches special interest to developing its relations and consolidating the cooperation with the Peoples Republic of China in different fields. We are pleased to have felt a similar interest from His Excellency President Xi Jinping during my meeting with him yesterday.
I would like to express our satisfaction over the identity of views we have reached with His Excellency the President on issues and topics that have been discussed, including the agreement to expand the circle of bilateral cooperation, especially in the political, security, economic, commercial, industrial, scientific, technological, energy and cultural fields and work for tightening the contacts between the private sectors in both countries and entering into joint ventures and investments to the mutual interest of the two friendly peoples.
The fruitful cooperation between our two countries was not confined to certain fields as we witness the transference of this relation into a strategic partnership with wide dimensions to the benefit of the two friendly peoples.
The signing today of a number of memoranda of understanding in the fields of investment and cooperation in space sciences and technology and technical cooperation program in the commercial field, another memo on the contribution of the Saudi Development Fund in financing a project to establish university buildings in the State of Sanche, once more confirm the depth of this partnership and its good objectives based on the joint desire to continue the historical ties binding our two peoples and our common endeavor to achieve comprehensive development in our two countries in the service of peace and stability.
Your Excellency,
We firmly appreciate the confirmation made by His Excellency the President to the historical Chinese positions in support of the rights of the Palestinian people and his statement on the importance of reaching a prompt peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria through complete implementation of Geneva I declaration issued on June 30, 2012, including the establishment of an interim ruling authority with full executive liabilities, hoping that the world community would unite to coerce the Syrian regime to stop bloodshed of the dear Syrian people.
Finally, I confirm to your Excellency that, we, under instructions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, will continue to spare no effort to enhance our joint cooperation march, not only at the bilateral level, but also at the international institutions level and within the G20.
Let me, Excellency, thank you again and wish the great Chinese people more progress and prosperity under the wise leadership of His Excellency the President and Your Excellency.'
Then the Crown Prince and China's Vice President attended a signing ceremony of agreements between the two countries on a number of joint fields between the two countries.
The first agreement was on cooperation program between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Kingdom and the Public Department for Quality Control, Tests and Quarantine of China. It was signed by Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabee'a, Minister of Commerce and Industry, on the Saudi side, and Mr. Chi Shoping, President of the Department, on the Chinese side.
The second was a memorandum of understanding between King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) of the Kingdom and the Chinese National Space Management for Cooperation in the fields of space sciences and technologies. It was signed by Dr. Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al-Suwayel, President of KACST, and Mr. Cheo Datchi, Deputy Minister for Industry and Information Technology and President of the Chinese National Space Management for Space, Sciences and Technologies.
The third was a memo on the Saudi Development Fund's contribution to co-finance the new headquarters for the University of Leolyang in Sanche state of China. It was signed on the Saudi side by the fund's Deputy President Eng. Yousef bin Ibrahim Al-Bassam and on the Chinese side by Mr. Wang Bawon, Deputy Minister of Finance.
The fourth and last agreement was on cooperation in boosting investment between the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and the Investment Development Commission, an affiliate of the Ministry of Commerce of China. It was signed by SAGIA Governor Eng. Abdullatif Al-Othman and on the Chinese side by the Commission's Chairman Mr. Leo Diancheon.
Then, the Crown Prince graced a luncheon held in his honor by the Vice President of China.
The meeting, the signing ceremony and the lunch party were attended by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Chief of the Crown Prince's Court and Special Advisor to the Crown Prince; Eng. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Dr. Musaed Al-Aiban, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance; Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information; Dr. Nizar bin Obeid Madani, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs; and General Abdulrahman Al-Bunyan, Deputy Chief of Staff.
On the Chinese side, the events were attended by Jian Ming, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Jiang Jin, Deputy Minister of Commerce; Leo Che, Deputy Director of Energy Department and a number of government officials.
--SPA
12:16 LOCAL TIME 09:16 GMT