President Hu Jintao concluded his three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia and left Dammam Monday for Morocco in North Africa to continue his current five-nation tour.

 

During his visit in Saudi Arabia, Hu held talks with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz and other Saudi leaders.

 

The two sides reached important consensus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in various fields and pushing forward the development of bilateral strategic friendship and cooperation.

 

Hu, who is on his first state visit to Saudi Arabia, listed key areas for bilateral cooperation at the present stage including the expansion of cooperation in investment, energy, trade, culture and education.

 

The two heads of state also attended a signing ceremony for bilateral cooperation documents after their talks in Riyadh Saturday.

 

Saudi Arabia is the second leg of Hu's five-nation tour, which has already taken him to the United States and will also take him to Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.

 

Saudi Arabia is China's biggest trade partner in West Asia, with their trade volume last year reaching US$16 billion.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2006)