Saudi Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing and Chinese Minister of Commerce Co-sign Action Plan to Enhance Cooperation in Field of Housing

Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Majed bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, co-signed today an action plan to implement the memorandum of understanding signed between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the People's Republic of China for cooperation in August 2016 in the field of housing, on the sidelines of the Saudi-Chinese Summit.

The plan aims to enrich the content of practical cooperation, develop friendly bilateral relations, and achieve mutual benefit and common development between the two countries, in order to implement the agreed opinion on cooperation in the field of housing. According to the agreement, the two sides recently agreed to form a joint working group on cooperation in the field of housing within the mechanism of the Trade and Investment Subcommittee to enhance exchanges at the governmental level, coordinate policies and planning, identify problems facing cooperation between Riyadh and Beijing in the field of housing and address them in a timely manner, and encourage financial companies and institutions and research institutions in the two countries to expand the scope of exchanges and communication. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing and other parties represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in this team, while the Chinese side is represented by the Ministry of Commerce and the China International Contractors Association (CHINCA).

The fields of cooperation include the exchange of development plans, policies, measures, administrative expertise and successful practices in the field of urban development and housing construction, the implementation of specific housing projects in China, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or jointly in a third country, surveying, design and construction, site management, health, safety, environment, building materials and energy-saving buildings. The fields also include the exchange of experiences in modern building technologies, financing innovations and green construction, and the application of information and data technologies in the building and manufacturing sector in the construction sector and smart cities, in addition to training the concerned engineers and technicians in the two countries in the field of housing, building and construction research.

--SPA