The attractiveness of China's business environment continues to increase

"The '14th Five-Year Plan' has shown us China's determination and path to continuously improve its policy framework and continue to optimize its business environment. Based on the considerable resilience that the Chinese economy has shown over time, and the long-term positive economic fundamentals of China as pointed out in the '14th Five-Year Plan', we are very optimistic about the next phase of China's high-quality development." Recently, Mohammed Abdulaziz Al Ajlan, Chairman of the Saudi-Chinese Business Council and Deputy Chairman of Ajlan & Bros Holding Group, said in an exclusive interview with the International Finance News.

On March 5, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out in the government work report that last year, unswervingly promote reform and opening up, development vitality and internal dynamics to further enhance. Deeply promote the "management and service" reform, the implementation of regulations to optimize the business environment. The "Belt and Road" initiative has been steadily promoted.

As the largest Saudi private conglomerate in China, Ajlan Bros Holding Group regards the Chinese market as one of the most important strategic markets.

Mohammed Ajlan said, "China's business environment is continuing to grow in attractiveness by deepening and expanding its openness and increasing the degree of investment and trade facilitation. All along, our commitment and confidence in our roots in China and long-term development have remained unchanged. Saudi Arabia is an important node country in China's 'Belt and Road' initiative. The Saudi’s ‘Vision 2030' and China's 'Belt and Road' initiative also continue to dovetail in depth, and we look forward to further consolidating our corporate leadership in the industries related to the Vision 2030. We look forward to further consolidating our leadership position in the Vision 2030 related sectors, especially around diversified areas such as financial services, transportation logistics and e-commerce, and working together with our Chinese partners to win future opportunities and share development dividends."

Compliment for China's business environment

This year is the opening year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, and both the central and local governments have made it an important part of their work to continue to deepen the construction of an international first-class business environment. Ajlan Bros Holding Group also feels very strongly about the improvement of China's business environment.

Ajlan Bros family started to expand its investment in China in 2000. At that time, the apparel and textile industry was a dominant area of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, and Saudi Arabia had long been regarded as one of the most promising markets for China's apparel and textile exports.

According to Mohammed Ajlan, based on the family's accumulation and strength in the garment and textile industry in the Arab region, the group invested in Jiangsu Province in 2002 to establish its first factory in China; in 2003, the textile factory in China, Shandong Lawrance Textile Co. Ltd. In addition, the Ajlan Bros family carried out a comprehensive and comprehensive business integration in 2017 and formally established Ajlan Bros. Holding Group .

In recent years, with China's tremendous achievements in the area of "management and service" reform to optimize the business environment, Ajlan Bros Holding Group has entered into many projects with leading Chinese companies. For example, it has established a joint venture AJEX in Saudi Arabia in cooperation with China's leading logistics company SF Express, and successfully organized the first and so far the largest e-sports tournament (PUBG) in Saudi Arabia in cooperation with Tencent Games and China's top e-sports team.

"Under the preferential policy, we have also set up investment offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen respectively. 2020, we are actively involved in industry exchange activities and are fully committed to expanding our business into various ecological sectors such as logistics, gaming, health, energy and financial technology. Since our establishment, our China investment team has engaged with more than 150 companies and more than 10 projects have successfully entered into the ground execution stage. We are always open to various investment opportunities and cooperation." Mohammed Ajlan said.

Mohammed Ajlan admits that in the process of China's continuous opening and business environment optimization, Ajlan Bros Holding Group is not only a witness and participant, but also a beneficiary. "Globally, the Chinese market is one of the most important strategic markets for Ajlan Bros Holding Group. We are also the largest Saudi private group in China. The series of policy measures implemented by the Chinese government to benefit foreign enterprises have not only created a synergy for our long-term development in China, but also made us look forward to a more open, resilient and dynamic Chinese market".

At present, China is accelerating the formation of a new development pattern with the main domestic cycle and the domestic and international "double cycle" promoting each other. Mohammed Ajlan said that the Group sees "collaboration" as the key to seizing the opportunities of the "double cycle". "As China continues to open up to the world at a higher level, we look forward to working with more outstanding Chinese enterprises to further explore the opportunities and potential of bilateral economic cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia, and to add to the new win-win situation of cooperation between the two countries".

Deepening Sino-Saudi cooperation

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia in 1990, relations between the two countries have developed rapidly and the areas of cooperation have been continuously broadened.

In 2016, the Saudi government released Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan, hoping to gradually realize the economic structure through the "two-wheel drive" of economic and social reforms. Diversification. As an important node country in China's Belt and Road Initiative, Saudi Arabia's Saudi Vision 2030 and China's Belt and Road Initiative have been dovetailing in depth.

The trade volume between the two countries has increased from less than USD 500 million in 1990 to USD 78 billion in 2019, an increase of more than 150 times. Today, Saudi Arabia is China's No. 1 trading partner in West Asia and Africa, and the largest supplier of crude oil to China, and China has been the top trading country of Saudi Arabia for many years.

Mohammed Ajlan said, "I think the Sino-Saudi relationship is a very important strategic partnership between the two countries and the whole region. China is a great country, and its economy is growing rapidly and steadily, which is very important for Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is one of the most important and reliable exporters of energy and raw materials for China as well as for countries along the 'Belt and Road'. I think both countries can realize the importance of this and there is mutual dependence between the two countries."

Saudi-Chinese Business Council has also made many contributions in the development of Sino-Saudi economic and trade relations.

As the president of the Saudi-Chinese Business Council, Mohammed Ajlan said that the SCBC is a representative of Saudi Arabia's private sector, and also dovetails with Chinese business representatives from China, aiming to strengthen economic and trade cooperation and investment between the two countries. The SCBC aims to develop private sector relations between the two countries and to enhance the exchange of visits and experiences between business people.

During the period of operation of the SCBC, more than a dozen agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed between the two countries to help boost bilateral trade volume, which increased by 23.2 percent to $78 billion in 2019, compared to $200 million in the early years of the Chamber's existence. During the epidemic, Saudi Arabia and China quickly reached an agreement on the establishment of a laboratory in Saudi Arabia within a short period of time; in addition, China and Saudi Arabia have cooperated extensively in the supply of medical supplies, especially disposable medical supplies.

According to the report, in 2020, the Saudi-Chinese Business Council actively promoted to attract foreign investors to Saudi Arabia, especially to attract Chinese investors. On the one hand, the Saudi-Chinese Business Council conducted online communication with several Chinese Chamber of Commerce organizations and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products; on the other hand, the Saudi-Chinese Business Council also conducted research and studies in Saudi Arabia to gain a deeper understanding of the needs of Chinese business people and Chinese enterprises to invest in Saudi Arabia, and actively communicated and coordinated with the Saudi Crown Prince, the heads of relevant Saudi government departments and the heads of relevant Chinese departments .

"The Saudi-Chinese Business Council believes that the cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia will continue to deepen. We are committed to continuously strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation, but also to mutual benefits and win-win cooperation through initiatives such as promoting investment advantages and policy exchanges and accelerating the opening and sharing of resources." Mohammed Ajlan said.

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/vR77e90OvvEewcGLrLDs2w