China’s vice premier to sign ‘Phase 1’ deal in US this week, says report

China’s Vice Premier Liu He gestures as he arrives for negotiations in Washington. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 01 January 2020
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China’s vice premier to sign ‘Phase 1’ deal in US this week, says report

  • Hopes for a US-China trade agreement helped keep world stocks positive on Monday

WASHINGTON: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington this week to sign a “Phase 1” trade deal with the US, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.

“Washington has sent an invitation and Beijing has accepted it,” the SCMP quoted a source as saying.

Representatives for the Office of the US Trade Representative and the White House could not be immediately reached for comment on the report, which said the Chinese delegation was likely to stay in the US until the middle of next week.

Neither side has released many specific details of the agreement, and no text has been released.

Hopes for a US-China trade agreement helped keep world stocks positive on Monday.

US President Donald Trump first announced plans for the initial trade pact in October, and US and Chinese negotiators have spent weeks finalizing the so-called Phase 1 deal, which comes in lieu of the massive trade agreement that the world’s two largest economies had sought.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said this month that representatives from both countries would sign the pact during the first week of January.

Last week, Trump told reporters at his resort in Florida that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would eventually have a signing ceremony for the agreement. Trump gave no further details, but said the deal was done and being translated.

Days earlier, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the deal was completely finished but was undergoing a technical review.

On Sunday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it “proactively dealt with” trade frictions with Washington.

The ministry has implemented the decisions of the central government and “resolutely safeguarded the interests of the country and the people,” it said in a statement on its website.


Real Estate Registry signs 10 agreements at forum in Riyadh

Updated 50 min 48 sec ago
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Real Estate Registry signs 10 agreements at forum in Riyadh

RIYADH: The Real Estate Registry concluded its participation in the Real Estate Future 2026, as a partner of the forum, with a distinguished presence that included the launch of its business portal, the signing of 10 agreements and memoranda of understanding with entities from the public and private sectors, the organization of specialized workshops, and the awarding of the Gold Award at the Real Estate Excellence Awards.

During his participation in the forum, the CEO of the firm, Mohammed Al-Sulaiman, reviewed the latest developments in real estate registration in the Kingdom in a keynote speech, highlighting the pivotal role of the Real Estate Registry in building a unified and reliable system for data. He also announced the launch of the national blockchain infrastructure, which aims to enable the microcoding of real estate assets, enhance transparency, expand investment opportunities, and support innovative ownership models within a reliable regulatory framework.

On the sidelines of the forum, Al-Sulaiman met with Nigeria’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa. During the meeting, they discussed areas of joint cooperation, exchanged experiences and advice on shaping the future of the real estate sector, and reviewed best practices in implementing real estate registration systems that enhance reliability and improve the efficiency of property registration.
efficiency of property registration systems.

The Real Estate Registry’s participation included organizing three specialized workshops that focused on the role of geospatial technologies in identifying ownership, enhancing transparency, and improving the quality of real estate data. 

The workshop “Empowering the Real Estate Registry for the Business Sector” reviewed digital solutions that enable the business sector to manage its real estate assets more efficiently and enhance governance and technical integration. The workshop “From Off-Plan Sales to Title Deed” focused on the journey of documenting real estate ownership and the role of the registry in linking the stages of development and documentation within an integrated digital system.

On the sidelines of the forum, the Real Estate Registry signed 10 agreements and memorandums of understanding, including a deal with Yasmina Information Technology Co. to utilize real estate data in developing smarter insurance solutions that support the real estate sector and enhance service reliability. 

Partnerships were also signed with Haseel, NewTech, and Sahl, as well as HissaTech and Droub, to develop innovative digital solutions in property ownership, fractional ownership, and asset tokenization, as well as real estate finance and investment within a trusted regulatory framework.

Further collaborations included an MoU with ROSHN Group, an agreement with the Saudi Water Authority to enable data integration and quality enhancement, an agreement with the Saudi National Bank, and a partnership with Saudi Post to link the national address with the property registry as a unified geospatial identifier supporting data accuracy and integration.

The registry’s participation was crowned with the Golden Award at the Real Estate Excellence Awards in the category of Excellence in Property Documentation, in recognition of its role in building a model based on transparency, accuracy, and speed, as well as advanced digital technologies and specialized legal expertise, contributing to rights protection and increasing the sector’s attractiveness.

The Real Estate Registry emphasized that its participation reflects its continued role as a key enabler of the real estate sector, a trusted data source, and an active partner in driving digital transformation, enhancing market efficiency, and building investor and financier confidence, in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 objectives for a fully integrated and sustainable digital real estate ecosystem.