Business & Money | Saturday 27 April, 2019 3:39 am |

Nabeel Al-Amoudi, the Saudi minister of transport and chairman of the Public Transport Authority, met Chinese Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the transport industry.

Their meeting took place in Beijing on the sidelines of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Delegations from more than 100 countries took part in the event.

Al-Amoudi also met the chairmen of the China Railway Construction Company and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to discuss the Saudi Landbridge Project — a railway connecting Saudi Arabia’s western and eastern coasts by utilizing existing railway lines between Riyadh and Dammam, and linking them with a north–south railway line — and its proposed time frame.

The project is part of efforts to turn the Kingdom into a global logistics platform linking three continents, in line with the aims of Vision 2030. PTA President Rumaih Al-Rumaih, and Mohammed Al-Shabrami, his deputy for the railway sector, were also at the meeting.

During the Future Investment Initiative 2018 in Riyadh, the PTA and CCECC signed a memorandum of understanding to discuss ways to implement the Landbridge Project while achieving the highest levels of efficiency and sustainability.