By Jana Choukeir and Ella Cao
BEIJING/DUBAI (Reuters) – Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman discussed cooperation in several sectors including energy, investment and trade in a meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Earlier, Li had urged Beijing and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to accelerate free trade negotiations.
Li made his remarks in a meeting in Riyadh with GCC Secretary General Jasem al-Budaiwi, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.
SPA reported that 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 telling Reuters 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 GCC, which also includes Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, started free trade negotiations nearly 20 years ago.
Li is also due to visit the UAE this week.
(Reporting by Ella Cao in Beijing and Alexander Cornwell and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Editing by Andrew Heavens, William Maclean and Angus MacSwan)
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