The art of traditional Chinese painting is demonstrated for visitors to the Chinese Food Festival in Riyadh, Thursday. (Saudi Gazette photo by Shahid Ali Khan)RIYADH: The number of Saudi students seeking to study in China is increasing rapidly, said Yang Honglin, Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Yang said about 1,100 Saudi students are currently studying in universities located in different Chinese cities. “We are very pleased to strengthen our cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the area of higher education and welcome more Saudi students to study in China,” he said. Prompted by the growing interest of Saudi higher education institutions and the keen interest shown by Saudi students, 34 Chinese higher education institutions are participating in the International Education and Conference on Higher Education that opened in Riyadh Tuesday, the ambassador said. With rapidly growing Sino-Saudi relations in higher education, China is also encouraging Chinese students to study at Saudi universities, he said. Currently around 50 Chinese are enrolled at various Saudi universities, Ambassador Yang told Saudi Gazette after opening a week-long Chinese Food Festival at Al-Faisaliah Hotel. The envoy said the mutual exchange of higher education officials was paving the way for the fast development of bilateral relations. He said Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education, recently led a Saudi delegation constituting of more than 20 universities to China. During the visit, Saudi universities signed 10 cooperation treaties with Chinese education institutions in the field of higher education. Following the visit of the Saudi delegation, a high-level Chinese delegation comprising chairmen of a number of universities visited Saudi Arabia, the ambassador said. He said the bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and China are growing rapidly, adding that there are frequent high-level visits between the two countries, which help to foster mutual trust and cooperation in areas such as the economy, trade, energy, culture and education. Ambassador Yang said Saudi Arabia is the largest trading partner of China, with the volume of two-way trade between the two in 2010 surpassing $43 billion. He added that Saudi Arabia is China's largest supplier of crude oil. China imported about 42 million tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia last year, “and expects to increase the quantity of Saudi crude oil imports in the future”, he said. He said more than 100 Chinese companies are currently operating in different fields in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the construction sector, where they are responsible for the construction of more than 80 projects, adding that about 11,300 Chinese Muslims came for Haj last year.
