On January 20, 2016 local time, President Xi Jinping and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud jointly attended the launch ceremony of the Yasref oil refinery.

When Xi Jinping arrived at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, he received a warm welcome from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The two heads of state stepped into the hall together and took the seats of honor. A video introducing the Yasref oil refinery and the live scene of the launch ceremony was played on the large screen. The Saudi Arabian staff greeted President Xi Jinping in Chinese, while the Chinese staff greeted King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Arabic. President Xi Jinping and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud jointly pressed the start button, and the Yasref oil refinery officially went into production.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia in the field of energy has brought concrete benefits to the people of the two countries. The Yasref oil refinery project not only is in line with Saudi Arabia's national development strategy of optimizing and upgrading economy and upgrading energy industry, but also fits with China's development thoughts of conducting mutually beneficial cooperation with countries along the Silk Road under the framework of the Belt and Road. The two sides still boast more and better cooperative projects which will surely make greater contribution to improving the level of bilateral cooperation in economy and trade and energy, and promoting further and comprehensive development of the China-Saudi Arabia strategic relationship.

The Yasref oil refinery is China's largest investment project in Saudi Arabia.

Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Yang Jiechi and others attended the ceremony.