Saudi Arabia has signed a $5.6bn deal with a Chinese company to manufacture electric vehicles as the kingdom is looking to lead the Arab world in expanding economic ties with Beijing. The memorandum of understanding signed on Sunday with electric and self-driving car maker Human Horizons on the development, manufacture and sale of vehicles accounted for more than half of the $10bn in investments signed on the first day of a major business conference being held in the capital, Riyadh. The 10th Arab-China Business Conference held under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to enhance a "strategic" partnership based around the Belt and Road Initiative, the Saudi Press Agency said. More than 3,500 government officials, investors, business representatives and experts from 23 countries have reportedly participated in the event, co-organised with the Arab League and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. As the world's top exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia's relations with China still largely revolve around energy, but as part of its Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy, Riyadh is planning to boost investments in non-oil sectors, including in electric cars.

The agreements followed the announcement of Saudi Arabia's National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence, launched during the Global AI Summit Saudi Arabia has signed a series of partnership agreements with international tech companies to advance artifical intelligence (AI) in the kingdom. The agreements, which were rigned at the virtual Global AI Summit held in Riyadh, are underpinned by Saudi Arabia's newly-launched National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence (NSDAI). Saudi Arabia's National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China's Huawei to enable strategic cooperation on the kingdom's National AI Capability Development Program. Under the MoU, Huawei will support the NCAI to train Saudi AI engineers and students, and to address Arabic language AI-related capabilities. NCAI and Huawei will also explore the creation of an AI Capability Platform to localise technology solutions.

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) was set up by a Royal Decree in August 2019. The organisation oversees the National Data Management Office, the National Information Center and the National Center for Artificial Intelligence. "Data is the single most important driver of our growth and reform and we have a clear roadmap for transforming Saudi Arabia into a leading AI and data-driven economy," said Dr Abdullah bin Sharaf Al Ghamdi, president of SDAIA, according to regional news website gulfnews.com. The country is establishing a national data bank to consolidate more than 80 government datasets, the equivalent to 30 per cent of the government's digital assets. It is also planning to build one of the largest clouds in the region by merging 83 data centres owned by more than 40 government bodies.