The 8th Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference opened on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh.
Dubbed "Davos in the Desert," the FII conference is the largest international investment and innovation forum in the Middle East, attracting many political and business leaders every year.
This year's theme, "Infinite Horizons: Investing Today, Shaping Tomorrow," highlights the event's focus on advancing impactful solutions in areas such as global connectivity, mining, artificial intelligence, health technology, sports, the circular economy, and more.
This year's FII has over 7,000 participants and 600 speakers from diverse sectors, with investors from China and Saudi Arabia actively seeking greater cooperation opportunities.
"Next year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Saudi Arabia. Economic and trade cooperation form an important foundation for our comprehensive strategic partnership, and I am delighted to see more and more Chinese companies coming here. Today, I attended the Future Investment Initiative conference and I was pleased to see many Chinese participants. A friend just informed me that among the more than 5,000 attendees at this event, over 700 are from China. This also shows that our Chinese companies are paying more and more attention to the Saudi market," said Chang Hua, ambassador of China to Saudi Arabia.
For Saudi investors, it is also a valuable opportunity to strengthen ties with Chinese partners and expand collaboration on projects like the futuristic mega-city, NEOM.
"With Chinese, we have a number of partnership and infrastructure projects. I'm not at the liberty of announcing the projects, but, you know, it's well-known between us and between them, and we will announce it in the near future. It's a great partnership to develop very complex projects that will take the capabilities of both NEOM as well as our Chinese partners to the next level," said Manar Al Moneef, chief of the Investment Office of NEOM.
An adit tunnel project of Saudi Arabia's futuristic city NEOM, built by China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), was completed and delivered in May, which signifies the end of the first project undertaken by a Chinese enterprise in NEOM.
Located at the southern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba and covering an area of 26,500 square km, NEOM represents Saudi Arabia's vision for building an avant-garde future city featuring "a new model for sustainable living, working and prospering."
The city is part of Saudi Vision 2030 initiated to foster a diversified economy. Currently, multiple Chinese enterprises are participating in the building of NEOM City.
Future Investment Initiative conference opens in Saudi Arabia
Future Investment Initiative conference opens in Saudi Arabia
Li Yuhua, a farmer-turned forest ranger from a mountainous village in Dulongjiang Town, southwest China's Yunnan Province, has spent nine years protecting the forests in her hometown while helping local people increasing their incomes.
Li's family was once a registered impoverished household, relying mainly on corn farming for living. Things began to change for her family in 2016 when China launched a policy allowing registered impoverished population to work as ecological forest rangers, and Li became one of the first ecological forest rangers in the town.
"When I first began to work as a forest ranger, it was hard for me even to climb mountains, let alone climb rocks and cross rivers. But I told myself that since the country gave me this opportunity, I must do it well. I worked hard to improve my physical fitness and learn new skills, always actively taking the missions of patrolling mountains," said Li.
As Li often wears a colorful, vibrantly striped "Dulong blanket," a traditional clothing of the Dulong ethnic group, the villagers call her the "rainbow ranger."
"I think the name 'Rainbow Ranger' is beautiful. It makes me feel like a rainbow for us women of Dulong ethnic group guarding our homeland," Li said.
Dulong is a mountain-dwelling ethnic group in southwest China. It is one of the least populous of China's 56 ethnic groups, and the people were known for "direct transition" from primitive life to the modern socialist society at the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Most Dulong people live in Dulongjiang Town, where an inhospitable mountainous terrain used to thwart the place's development for decades. The town remained to be one of the poorest areas in Yunnan Province and even in the entire country. Thanks to government inputs and the development of industries with local features, the Dulong people have been experiencing remarkable life changes. In 2018, the Dulong ethnic group shook off poverty as a whole.
Beyond safeguarding forests, Li took the lead in developing non-timber forest-based economy in the town, guiding local residents to grow plants like Chinese black cardamom and wild-simulated lingzhi mushrooms as well as raising cattle and bees.
In 2025, the total output value of the town's non-timber forest-based economy reached nearly 30 million yuan (around 4.3 million U.S. dollars), with the annual average income of 43 households increasing by more than 20,000 yuan (around 2,900 U.S. dollars) each.
Li also established a cooperative for Dulong blanket making, attracting more than 170 women to learn traditional weaving techniques. They have developed 12 types of cultural and creative products, including shawls and scarves, and sold them worldwide through livestreaming, generating wealth for themselves.
"In the past, we only wove blankets for our own use. Now she teaches us to make the cultural and creative products and sell them. Last year, I earned more than 4,000 yuan (around 580 U.S. dollars) from weaving. I spent the money on my children's school fees and new appliances for my house," said Mu Jianying, member of the cooperative.
Li's dedication to both forestry and rural revitalization has earned her widespread recognition. In 2024, she was honored as model of ethnic solidarity and progress and received the title certificate from President Xi Jinping. She was also awarded the title of National March 8 Red-Banner Pacesetter, the highest honor presented by the All-China Women's Federation to the country's outstanding women, ahead of the International Women's Day observed on March 8.
Li said her achievements are the result of collective efforts.
"I often think that one person's strength is very limited, but the strength of a group is great. There are 195 ecological forest rangers like me protecting this land in the Dulongjiang Grand Canyon," she said.
As a female forest ranger, Li shared a message for women ahead of the International Women's Day.
"To mark the International Women's Day, I want to say to all my sisters: No matter what position we are in, as long as we are willing to endure hardship and work hard, we will surely weave our own rainbow," she said.
Forest ranger dedicated to guarding green mountains in Yunnan
Forest ranger dedicated to guarding green mountains in Yunnan
