On the morning of December 19 (Riyadh time), the 9th Round of China-GCC FTA Negotiation was held in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. Vice Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen and Al-Bazai, General Coordinator for GCC FTA Negotiations and the Vice Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia led delegations and attended the negotiation. On the three-day negotiations, the two sides carried out in-depth talks on issues concerning trade in service, investment, e-commerce and other leftover issues on trade in goods.

On January 19, 2016, during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Saudi Arabia, the two sides announced to resume the FTA negotiation that had been suspended for 6 years. According to the consensus, the two sides have held the 6th, 7th and 8th round of negotiations in Riyadh, Guangzhou and Beijing in February, May and October respectively.