Saudi experts: China's economy is expected to achieve significant growth in the short term

"China's optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control measures and the gradual resumption of personnel and logistics exchanges with countries around the world are of great significance to the recovery and development of the world economy." Fahd Manei, a researcher at the Saudi Research and Knowledge Exchange Center, said that China's economy is resilient. In view of China's economic development trend and the degree of demand for China from the global economy, it is expected that China's economy will achieve significant growth in the short term.

On January 8 of this year, China, in accordance with the international epidemic situation and various aspects of service guarantee capacity, and in line with the principle of pilot first, orderly resumed outbound tourism of Chinese citizens, and gradually resumed the entry and exit of passenger transport at land and water ports. The global tourism market responded warmly to this and welcomed Chinese tourists. According to the data, during the Spring Festival in 2023, the overall order for outbound tourism of Chinese tourists increased by 640% year on year. "The optimized and adjusted epidemic prevention policy will have a positive impact on the development of tourism in China and the world, which is good news for many countries," said Manei.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia China relations have become increasingly strong, the "the Belt and Road" initiative has been deeply linked with Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030", mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has been deepening, and bilateral economic and trade relations have made great progress. Saudi Arabia has long been one of China's major crude oil suppliers and one of the first countries to actively respond to the the Belt and Road Initiative. Today, China has become the largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia for many consecutive years. In 2022, the bilateral trade volume between Saudi Arabia and China reached US $116.4 billion, up 32.9% year on year.

Manei said that during the COVID-19 epidemic, Saudi Arabia effectively responded to the challenges of the epidemic by taking effective measures, relying on the advanced digital medical system, and rapidly mobilizing medical resources. He said that China was one of the first countries to express its willingness to strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia, support the World Health Organization and work together to fight the epidemic. The two countries have signed a number of cooperation agreements in different fields, and have also carried out close cooperation in the research and development and trial stages of vaccines. "Saudi Arabia and China have fully demonstrated the depth of bilateral relations in the joint response to the COVID-19, reflecting the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind put forward by China."

Last December, the first China-Arab Summit was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Under the promotion of the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", China and Arab countries have carried out close and in-depth cooperation in infrastructure construction, trade and investment, renewable energy, space satellite technology and other fields. Manei said that China and Arab countries have always respected each other, treated each other as equals and did not interfere in each other's internal affairs. He looked forward to further strengthening the relations between Saudi Arabia, China and Arab countries under the principles and development framework of consultation, joint construction and sharing, further expanding comprehensive cooperation in various fields and better benefiting the people of all countries.

Manei said that under the auspices and guidance of the leaders of the two countries, bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and China have developed rapidly, political mutual trust has been constantly strengthened, high-level exchanges have been frequent, and bilateral relations have developed rapidly. The two sides firmly support each other on issues related to each other's core interests and important concerns. The cooperation between the two countries in energy, trade and other fields has yielded fruitful results. "I believe that with the adjustment of prevention and control policies and the gradual recovery of demand, China will rapidly recover and continue to show its economic vitality, and the world will also benefit from the recovery and prosperity of China's economy."