The 2006 Chinese Guangdong-Saudi Arabia Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation was inaugurated here on Tuesday.

During the opening ceremony, representatives of enterprises from the Chinese province signed a total of more than 400 million U.S. dollars worth of contracts with their Saudi counterparts in a host of areas, including liquefied petroleum gas, steel tubing, clothing, light industry products, household utensils, furniture, building materials, and home appliances.

Saudi Arabia, a country with rich natural resources, has become an important economic and trade partner with China, said Zhang Dejiang, the CPC party chief of China's Guangdong Province, in his speech during the opening ceremony.

Zhang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the fruitful visits by the heads of state of the two countries in January and April had accelerated the development of their bilateral strategic friendship, and expanded cooperation in the areas of trade and energy, which was in the fundamental interests of the two peoples.

Regarding trade between Saudi Arabia and Guangdong Province, Zhang said the two-way trade volume amounted to 2.22 billion dollars in 2005, a 31.6-percent jump on the year-on-year basis, accounting for 13.8 percent of the total between the two countries.

Zhang said the trade and economic relations between the Chinese province and Saudi Arabia had developed rapidly and enjoyed a promising prospect.

Zhang's remarks were echoed by the top official of a Saudi businessmen association, who said the enterprises of both countries should gear up to forge an economic partnership to better meet the demands of economic globalization.

During the fair, enterprises of the two sides also signed a string of agreements of intent on trade and economic cooperation.

On Tuesday night, Zhang held talks with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, during which Zhang said China and Saudi Arabia had made remarkable progress in economic cooperation, and mutual political trust had deepened since the two countries established diplomatic ties in July 1990.

During the meeting, the king reiterated his country's adherence to the one-China policy and said Saudi Arabia is willing to further strengthen cooperation and friendship with China.

Source: Xinhua