Cooperation between China and the Middle East Energy Opened a New Chapter

Source: China Energy News   Date: Jan. 27, 2016

Original text link: http://www.cnenergy.org/yw/zc/201601/t20160125_264572.html

From Jan. 19 to Jan. 23, State President Xi Jinping was invited to carry out a state visit for the three countries in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. This was the first visit of President Xi Jinping within this year, as well as the first visit of Chinese supreme leader to the Middle East area in recent 5 years.

As a global important place of origin for energy, the external cooperation of the Middle East area in the field of energy always catches people’s eyes. And as a great country with energy consumption, China is also always an important partner of the Middle East area in the field of energy cooperation.

In the 6th session of ministerial conference of “Cooperation Forum among China-Arab Countries” early in 2014, President Xi Jinping had put forward that, we should build a “1+2+3” cooperation structure with cooperation in the field of energy as principal axis, with convenience of infrastructure construction, trade and investment as both wings, and with the three major hi-tech fields, nuclear energy, space satellite and new energy as new breakthroughs.

The journey of President Xi Jinping to the Middle East this time comprehensively opened a new chapter of cooperation between China and countries in this area in the field of energy under the framework of “One Belt One Road”.

During the visit to Saudi Arabia, the journey of President Xi Jinping was compact and efficient. It not only promoted bilateral relations between China and Saudi Arabia into the comprehensive strategic partnership, but also witnessed the signature of a series of documents on bilateral cooperation.

Although the time of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia was not very long, their bilateral relation developed rapidly. As shown by data from the Xinhua News Agency, Saudi Arabia had been the largest trade partner of China in west Asia area for continuous many years, as well as one of the most important suppliers of crude oil for China globally. In 2013, China became the first largest trade partner of Saudi Arabia for the first time. In 2014, compared with the time of establishment of diplomatic relations, the trade volume between China and Saudi Arabia increased over 230 times, reaching to $69.1 billion.

As indicated by President Xi Jinping when he interviewed royal heir of Saudi Arabia Mohammed, the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Saudi Arabia was an irreversible trend, which marked that the relation between the two countries stepped into a new stage.

As important countries of production and country of consumption globally, the cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia in the field of energy is very eye-catching.

On Jan. 20, in King Abdullah Petroleum Research Centre located in outskirts of Riyadh, President Xi Jinping and King of Salman attended the operation and launch ceremony of China-Saudi Arabia Yanbu Refinery Plant together. According to what we knew, this project was built jointly by Sinopec Group and Arabian American Oil Company, with an area of 5.2 million sq.m., 0.4 million barrels of designed daily capacity, nearly $10 billion of total investment, and was the largest investment project of China in Saudi Arabia, as well as one of global largest refinery plants.

In addition, under the witness of leaders of both countries, NEC also signed Memorandum of Understanding of Saudi Arabia High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Project Cooperation with energy city of Saudi Arabia. NEC showed that, the signature of memorandum of understanding of this cooperation was a significant measure for China and Saudi Arabi to practice “One Belt One Road” initiative together, which also marked that the fourth generation of nuclear power technology high temperature gas cooled reactor project of our country achieved the major breakthrough of “go out”.

At the same time, China's Ministry of Commerce also announced with secretariat of Gulf Cooperation Council in Arab countries together to recover negotiation for free trade agreement, and plan to reach a comprehensive free-trade agreement within this year. In meeting with Secretary-general of Gulf Cooperation Council Zayani, President Xi Jinping indicated that, China wished to be a long-term, stable and reliable market to supply energy for countries of Gulf Cooperation Council, and build omnibearing upstream and downstream energy cooperation structure with the party of Gulf Cooperation Council.

As an Arabic and African country which established diplomatic relations with new China in earliest time, in recent years, Egypt also continues to strengthen the cooperation in the field of energy with China. According to what we knew, with the continuous increase of demand in electric power, Egypt showed strong interests in both nuclear power and renewable energy power generation in recent years. Last year, CNNC had already signed Memorandum of Understanding in Cooperation in the Field of Nuclear Energy with Egypt, which would assist Egypt to develop nuclear power.

On Jan. 20, heads of the two countries attended China’s High-tech Fair held in Cairo together, and President Xi Jinping introduced the related situation of “Hualong No. 1” to Premier of Egypt Charif Ismail personally during his visit. On Jan. 21, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation also signed the framework agreement on financing and insurance cooperation of key projects of electric power with electric power and renewable energy sources departments of Egypt. The financing work of economic and trade cooperation between China and Egypt in the field of electric power construction gained significant phased objectives.

During the period of the visit of President Xi Jinping, both sides of China and Egypt agreed unanimously that, they would continue to strengthen cooperation under the framework of “One Belt One Road”. China would support Egypt in aspects such as developing aisle of the Suez Canal, electric power, new energy and renewable energy sources, transportation and railway, road, port and other infrastructure construction；Meanwhile, we would also carry out financing cooperation in the range within our capacity with Egypt in the related projects.