In Riyadh, China’s Premier Li calls for accelerated Gulf trade talks

Beijing: China’s Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday urged Beijing and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to accelerate free trade negotiations.

Li made the remarks during a meeting in Riyadh with GCC Secretary General Jasem al-Budaiwi, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. Li is also due to visit the UAE this week.

Saudi Arabian state news agency SPA later reported that in the meeting al-Budaiwi had stressed the importance of moving forward and finalising the trade talks in the “near future”.

The free trade negotiations have stalled over concerns by Saudi Arabia about cheap Chinese imports, with sources saying in May that the talks were at an impasse.

Saudi Arabia is worried that a wave of lower cost Chinese versions of products that it hopes to manufacture domestically would be damaging to its industrial agenda, the sources said.

China and the energy-rich GCC, which also includes Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, started free trade negotiations nearly 20 years ago.