China to invest in Saudi Arabia project
20 April 2007
Two Chinese companies plan to invest in a US$4 billion aluminum plant
in Saudi Arabia. The deal may underline how the trade relationship
between Beijing and Riyadh is moving beyond China's need for oil. The
investment could be one of the largest ever made by China in the Middle East. China National Machinery Industry or Sinomach and China
Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering & Construction or
NFC planned to produce 1.6 million metric tons of alumina and 700,000
tons of aluminum annually, the Wall Street Journal
reported. "What we have fits very well with what China is looking for,"
said Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment
Authority. "We have cheap energy and we have a strategic location."