The 10th Arab-China Business Conference, the largest edition to date and the first hosted by Saudi Arabia, marked its first day with the signing of $10 billion in investment agreements. The agreements spanned more than 30 deals across an array of sectors including technology, renewables, agriculture, real estate, minerals, supply chains, tourism and healthcare. The program of plenaries, workshops, special meetings and side events dedicated to topics such as ESG and supply chain resilience attracted more than 3,500 business leaders, innovators and policymakers from 26 countries. The B2B deals signed on the sidelines of the event included, a $533 million deal between the AMR ALuwlaa Company and Zhonghuan International Group (Hong Kong) Limited to establish a factory to reduce iron ore and manufacture iron pellets for smelting plants in Saudi Arabia. It included a $500 million cooperation agreement between Saudi Arabia’s ASK Group and the China National Geological & Mining Corp. for the development, financing, construction and operation of an Arabian Shield copper mining project. A $266 million framework agreement was signed between Mabani Al- Safwah Ltd, China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co., Ltd. and Top International Engineering Corporation Arabia Ltd. for advanced building construction in the Kingdom. The government-to-business (G2B) agreements included, a $5.6 billion agreement between MISA and Human Horizons, a Chinese developer of autonomous driving technologies and manufacturer of electric cars under the HiPhi brand, to establish a joint venture for automotive research, development, manufacturing and sales. A $266 million deal was also signed by MISA with Hong Kong-based Android developer Hibobi Technology Limited to develop tourism and other apps, and a $250 million deal facilitated by MISA between Saudi railway company SABATCO and Chinese state-owned and publicly traded rolling stock manufacturer CRRC to manufacture rail wagons and wheels in Saudi Arabia. It included a $150 million deal between MISA, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM) and Chinese industrial manufacturer Sunda to manufacture caustic soda, chlorine and derivatives, chlorinated paraffin, calcium chloride, poly vinyl chloride (PVC), and related conversion products in the Kingdom. Senior officials present at the conference included Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit; Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Hu Chunhua; United Nations World Tourism Organization Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili; and government ministers from across the Arab world. Private sector participants in the event included senior executives from some of China’s most important companies, including Dahua Technology, Sieyuan Electric Company and Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Company Limited. The second day of the conference is scheduled to witness keynote speeches and private meetings with government leaders and important personalities, as well as specialized workshops that will examine in depth a number of key topics. The topics include supply chains for the oil and gas sectors, innovation and research partnerships, challenges and solutions for global commercial supply chains, mining, and food processing, in which many senior officials from the public and private sectors will participate. The second day of the program will include a closing keynote from Dilma Rousseff, former president of Brazil and current president of New Development Bank, a multilateral development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing economies.