ENHANCING ENERGY COOPERATION WITH SAUDI

The first leg of Xi's Middle East tour took him to Saudi Arabia, where he met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Tuesday.

The two leaders agreed to upgrade the bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Xi said, "I believe it will deepen the mutual strategic trust, lead to greater achievements in our mutually beneficial cooperation, and help facilitate and broaden our shared interests in international and regional affairs."

During his stay in Riyadh, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on industrial capacity cooperation, agreeing to pursue cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The two countries also signed a slew of cooperation deals covering such sectors as energy, communications, environment, culture, aerospace, and science and technology.

"I believe it will deepen the mutual strategic trust, lead to greater achievements in our mutually beneficial cooperation, and help facilitate and broaden our shared interests in international and regional affairs," Xi said on the upgrade of bilateral ties.

Energy cooperation is a key part of Xi's visit, during which the leaders agreed to build stable long-term energy cooperation. Saudi Arabia is China's biggest foreign supplier of crude oil.

When meeting with the head of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), Xi said that China is willing to carry out comprehensive energy cooperation with the GCC countries and be a long-term, stable and reliable energy market for the six-member bloc.

Xi attended the launching ceremony of the Yasref oil refinery, a joint venture with a total investment of nearly $10 billion. Chinese oil giant Sinopec holds a 37.5 percent stake in it.

The launch of the refinery conforms to not only Saudi national development plan, but also China's pursuit of cooperation with countries in the regions outlined in the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said.

During Xi's visit, China and the GCC announced that they are committed to working closely to conclude a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) within 2016.