On January 7, Mr. Li Liangsheng, Vice Minister of Water Resources, met Mr. Abdulrahman Alharbi, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to China. Both sides conducted in-depth exchanges on stepping up water cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia.

Li Liangsheng pointed out that China and Saudi Arabia enjoyed long-term friendly cooperation in water sector, and achieved fruitful outcomes in the spheres of high-level visits, technical exchanges and international water events since the signing of Memorandum of Understanding on water cooperation in 2016. Ministry of Water Resources of China thoroughly practices President Xi Jinping’s water governance principles of “prioritizing water conservation, balancing spatial distribution, taking systematic approaches and promoting government-market synergy”, so as to tackle the problems in the fields of water disasters, water resources, water ecology and water environment, and enhance the guaranteed capacity of the national water security in a continuous manner. Ministry of Water Resources of China stands ready to carry out policy dialogues, technical exchanges and practical cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the areas of non-conventional water use, groundwater protection, water saving, drought relief, soil and water conservation, among others, so as to make greater contributions to enriching the comprehensive strategic partnership between two countries.

Abdulrahman Alharbi noted that Saudi Arabia attached great importance to water cooperation with China, and spoke highly of the world’s leading water management practices in China. Furthermore, he expressed willingness to gear up water cooperation in the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership, in order to expand multilateral cooperation, as well as contribute the wisdom of China and Saudi Arabia to global water governance.

Source: INTCE