China and Saudi Arabia signed a protocol in Beijing on Monday evening on cooperation in the areas of petroleum, natural gas and minerals, signaling a fresh move to expand the already substantial cooperation between the two countries.

China and Saudi Arabia have made remarkable achievements in economic, trade and energy cooperation, President Hu Jintao said during his talks with visiting Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, adding that Saudi Arabia has become China's biggest trade partner in west Asia and north Africa.

Hu proposed that the two countries strengthen energy cooperation for mutual benefit so as to further bilateral relations and substantial cooperation in various fields.

China will make joint efforts with Saudi Arabia to conduct all-dimensional cooperation in the energy field and improve the bilateral energy dialogue mechanism and mode of cooperation, Hu said.

King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia will advance bilateral reciprocal cooperation in economy, energy and infrastructure, and encourage cultural exchanges with China.

The Saudi king arrived here on Sunday for a three-day state visit to China as Hu's guest. It is the first ever visit of a Saudi king to China since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1990. It is also the first official visit to another country for the king since he was crowned last year.

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan, trade between China and Saudi Arabia has been growing rapidly in recent years. As of November last year, two-way trade was valued at US$14.5 billion, up 59 percent year-on-year.

This is "an astonishing growth" that is higher than the average 23 percent growth of China's foreign trade for the same period, Kong said.

China imported 20.01 million tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia during that time.

According to Saudi Ambassador designate to China Saleh Alhegeian, Saudi Arabia exports to China about 450,000 barrels of oil daily, which accounts for 14 percent of China's oil imports.

Saudi Arabia will be a powerful backer for China in oil supply, Saleh said.

Describing the visit of the Saudi king as a new milestone in the friendly relations between Saudi Arabia and China, he said: "We are looking forward to more and more cooperation between the two nations."

Wu Chunhua, Chinese ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said China and Saudi Arabia are strongly supplementary in economy and have broad prospects for trade and economic cooperation.

China is now Saudi Arabia's fourth largest importer and fifth largest exporter, while Saudi Arabia is China's tenth largest importer and biggest oil supplier, he said.

China and Saudi Arabia have conducted large-scale energy cooperation since 2003, and witnessed a sound momentum of mutual investment in the energy sector. An oil refining project jointly invested by Chinese and Saudi companies has been put into production in China, and negotiations are underway for more projects.

Wu highly evaluated the significance of the Saudi king's visit to China, saying it will surely push Sino-Saudi cooperation to a new level.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2006)