The Saudi-Chinese meeting begins with the arrival of the Chinese president at Riyadh's al-Yamamah Palace.

Thursday morning, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at al-Yamamah Palace in preparation for a meeting later that day with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Xi has begun a journey that will last until December 9 and began on Wednesday when he arrived in Riyadh. 

There will be a summit between Saudi Arabia and China, which will be followed by two other summits on Friday: a summit between China and the Gulf, and a summit between China and Arab states, both of which will include leaders from countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab states. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President of Egypt, was one of the first Arab leaders to arrive in Riyadh on Thursday in preparation for the China-Arab summit.

 Other Arab leaders followed shortly after.

Watch: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives at al-Yamamah Palace for a meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.#SaudiArabia #Chinahttps://t.co/htiTE1kVEH pic.twitter.com/SZHSidBNtG

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) December 8, 2022

Earlier this week, it was announced by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that Xi Jinping's visit to the Kingdom will result in the signing of more than 20 preliminary agreements with a total value of SAR 110 billion ($29.26 billion). The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) also stated that Saudi and Chinese enterprises had signed 34 investment agreements on Wednesday evening, which coincided with the beginning of Xi's visit. According to the statement made by the SPA, dozens of agreements covering a variety of fields, including green energy, green hydrogen, photovoltaic energy, information technology, cloud services, transportation, logistics, medical industries, housing and construction factories, were signed. These agreements were all covered under the umbrella of the green energy sector.