On December 28, 2022, CITIC Construction officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Ajlan & Bros, Ximei Resources Holding Co., Ltd. and BONAVISTA CAPITAL. The four parties intend to establish a joint-venture fund management company to raise and manage investment funds with focus on regional strategic industries such as mining and renewable energy. With an expected target of US$10 billion of fund assets under management by 2025, CITIC Construction will be engaged in the fund management, and will have priority access to engineering and contracting opportunities in the mining and renewable energy sectors in Saudi Arabia.

Chen Xiaojia, Chairman of CITIC Construction, said in his speech that fruitful outcomes have been achieved during President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-GCC Summit and his state visit to Saudi Arabia this month. The signing of this strategic cooperation agreement aims to promote the early implementation of the outcomes of the visit and the consensus of the Summit with concrete actions. CITIC Construction has rich experience in fund management in China, and is willing to discuss the potential opportunities of fund cooperation to serve engineering projects under the "2030 Vision" with Saudi partners. The business owned by CITIC Group covers almost all national economy industries. CITIC Construction is willing to make full use of CITIC Group's synergy advantages and its own resources integration capabilities to inject new impetus to the strategy alignment between China and Saudi Arabia, promotion of advanced capacity cooperation, and the improvement of local people's livelihood.

Muhammad El Ajlan, Vice Chairman of Ajlan & Bros said that they are devoted to jointly excavate related industrial opportunities with Chinese leading enterprises, which will provide comprehensive financial support for projects with prospects and technology, and help them succeed in the market of the Middle East and North Africa regions. This is also conducive to further promoting the combination of “Vision 2030” with Belt and Road Initiative to accelerate the realization of the diversified development of the Saudi economy.

The mining and renewable energy sectors are pivotal under Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030", and are the key areas to achieve economic diversification in Saudi Arabia with tremendous business opportunities. In the mining sector, Saudi Arabia is expecting to develop mining into the third pillar of Saudi industry apart from oil/gas and petrochemicals. In the field of renewables, Saudi Arabia introduced a series of initiatives such as "Green Saudi " and "Green Middle East", and actively promoted the transformation to photovoltaic, wind energy, hydrogen energy and other renewable alternatives.

Yang Jianqiang, Executive Vice President of CITIC Construction and directors of relevant departments attended the aforementioned signing ceremony.