Over in Riyadh, Chinese President Hu Jintao has met for talks with King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz. The leaders said they would further enhance the Sino-Saudi strategic friendship, deal with the global financial crisis in a concerted manner, and strengthen their exchanges in both regional and international affairs.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (L front) and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz (R front) review the honor guard during a welcoming ceremony upon Hu's arrival at the airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 10, 2009. [Ju Peng/Xinhua]

The Chinese president arrived in the Saudi capital on Tuesday at the start of his "journey of friendship and cooperation" to Saudi Arabia and four African countries.

During the talks with the Saudi King shortly after his arrival, Hu Jintao said bilateral relations have advanced vigorously since the two heads of state visited each other's countries in 2006. And the relationship is now better than ever before. He said China attaches great importance to Saudi Arabia's role in maintaining regional peace and stability and guaranteeing international energy security. He stressed that closer Sino-Saudi cooperation is of greater importance in the face of grave challenges brought about by the international financial crisis.

Hu Jintao put forward a six-point proposal to enhance the Sino-Saudi strategic friendship. First, the two countries should maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges and initiate the mechanism of Sino-Saudi joint committee at an early date. Second, bring the two countries' advantages in resources and market into full play and develop a comprehensive energy cooperation partnership. Third, expand the scale of economic and trade cooperation and continue to improve the quality of cooperation. Fourth, speed up exchanges in education, sports and tourism and promote exchanges of personnel. Fifth, strengthen coordination and consultations on important international and regional issues. And sixth, enhance China's cooperation with the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.