Saudi Arabia signed housing and construction agreements worth 1.9 billion riyals (US$507 million) with Chinese partners including China State Construction Engineering during a visit to China by its housing minister, as Riyadh deepens cooperation with Beijing on urban development projects.

Speaking at a signing ceremony on Monday evening in Shenzhen, Minister of Municipalities and Housing Majid Al-Hogail said Saudi Arabia was accelerating housing and urban-development projects under its Vision 2030 strategy.

He added that the kingdom expected cooperation with Chinese companies to support the comprehensive economic transformation plan, which was designed to reduce oil dependence and build new growth sectors.

Beyond traditional construction, Saudi officials are increasingly looking to Chinese tech firms to support the planning, operation and management of their future cities.

While cooperation between the two countries had historically focused on core housing and infrastructure, that partnership was expanding into “smart-city technologies, city management and digital services”, said Mohammad Albuty, CEO of National Housing Company (NHC) – Saudi Arabia’s largest property developer and the investment arm of the housing ministry.

To create smarter and more efficient cities, the kingdom has signed cooperation agreements with technology partners including ByteDance, Huawei and Lenovo.