In a statement, the Saudi state news agency said Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment has signed an agreement, worth $5.6 billion, with Human Horizon, a China-based electric car maker, to partner on the development, manufacture, and sale of vehicles.
On Sunday, the deal, more than half of the investments worth $10 billion in various sectors, was signed on the first day of the Arab-China business conference in Riyadh. These sectors include technology, renewable energy, agriculture, real estate, metals, tourism and health care, and many more.
While the collaboration between China and the largest oil exporter in the world, Saudi Arabia, is based on energy, there has been an urge to encourage investments in non-oil sectors as part of the latter’s diversification agenda.
Saudi Arabia plans to establish a domestic electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing industry. Human Horizon develops electric vehicles under the brand name HiPhi. In March, Human Horizon said that its premium HiPhi brand would be launched in some European markets in 2023 as it seeks to extend overseas.
In 2021, Chinese foreign direct investment into Arab markets was estimated at $23 billion, the Saudi said in a statement, out of which $3.5 billion was in Saudi Arabia.
