Delegates from the Kingdom & China at the meeting on Saudi Arabia-China atomic energy cooperation in Riyadh.

Delegates from the Kingdom and China, who were in the capital, held wide-ranging talks on Wednesday.

The Kingdom sought cooperation in atomic and renewable energy in a strong bid to speed up work on its alternative energy program in order to achieve Vision 2032, which aims to replace 50 percent of its dependence on fossil fuels with eco-friendly renewable energy.

During the key talks, the Kingdom delegation was led by Waleed Husain Abu Alfaraj, vice president of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE); the Chinese side was headed by Leo Shi, vice president of the Chinese Energy Department, the KACARE media department said on Thursday.

Confirming the meeting held with the Chinese delegation specialized in atomic and renewable energy, it further said, “the talks dealt at length with various aspects of possible cooperation between the two sides.”

“They mainly discussed cooperation in the fields of preparing human cadres, offering training, rehabilitation and exchange of experiences, including technical know-how, and encouraging investments in these areas,” an official at the media department said.

Earlier, the KACARE vice president received the members of the Committee on Nuclear Cooperation between the Kingdom and China in his office at the KACARE headquarters. The meeting was also attended by a number of officials and specialists from both the Saudi and Chinese sides, including senior officials from KACARE and a number of officials from the Chinese Embassy in Riyadh.

The Committee on Nuclear Cooperation between the Kingdom and China was recently announced and the visiting delegates are members of the committee from the Chinese side.

KACARE signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese National Nuclear Energy Company (CNNEC) in Shanghai in Aug. 2014 on cooperation mechanisms for the peaceful use of atomic energy; the MoU was signed by Alfaraj and Hwan Min Gang, chief financial officer of the CNNEC.

Vision 2032 assumes importance as according to the government estimates, anticipated demand for electricity in the Kingdom is expected to exceed 120GW by 2032, hence a balanced energy mix of alternative and conventional energy is strategically important for the Kingdom’s long-term prosperity, energy security and its leading position in the global energy market.

Therefore, the atomic and renewable energy program accounts for a significant portion of the Kingdom’s future energy mix and cooperation with China is valuable as it is one of the pioneering countries in the atomic and renewable energy program.

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