RIYADH, Feb 10: Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived on Tuesday in Opec powerhouse Saudi Arabia for a visit aimed at securing more energy supplies for the world’s most populous nation.

Mr Hu landed in Riyadh with a large entourage of Chinese officials and executives, underscoring the growing importance of the relationship between the world’s biggest oil exporter and its most populous country.

The trip, Hu’s second to the desert kingdom, highlights China’s focus on securing energy, petrochemicals and other mineral resources that power its massive manufacturing sector.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing was interested in strengthening energy ties with Saudi Arabia, which has the largest oil reserves in the world.

“Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil exporter to China. We value the role it plays and look forward to strengthening cooperation in this field,” Jiang said.

While Hu and Saudi King Abdullah are expected to sign several accords on trade and other cooperation, China’s imports of Saudi oil products will remain the core of the relationship, the Chinese embassy in Riyadh said.

According to news reports, Chinese oil processing giant Sinopec could ink agreements with the Saudi state oil company Aramco on participating in the construction of two Saudi refineries.

Since 2004 Sinopec has also been exploring for oil in Saudi Arabia together with Aramco.

Chinese companies are also increasingly interested in winning a share of Saudi Arabia’s huge spending on non-energy-related development projects, and in providing workers to the manpower-hungry Middle East country.—AFP