2023年9月24日，自然资源部天津海水淡化与综合利用研究所（以下简称“海水淡化所”）与沙特国际电力与水务公司（ACWA Power以下简称“ACWA”）签署了《关于海水淡化项目合作的谅解备忘录》。

海水淡化所副所长张秋丰、ACWA首席执行官马克·塞利（Marco Arcelli）分别代表双方签署了合作备忘录。海水淡化所阮国岭所长和ACWA桑德（Raad Al-Saady）副董事长见证备忘录签署。海水淡化所副所长初喜章、ACWA执行副总裁吕云鹤，以及双方项目管理团队参加了签约仪式。

签约仪式后，双方就进一步深化务实合作进行了座谈交流。未来双方将在海水淡化设备与材料、工程运维、浓海水化学资源提取、水回用、海水淡化环境影响监测和评估、标准化等领域开展全方位合作，充分发挥各自优势，携手推进中东北非、中亚区域及中国境内等全球多个地区的海水淡化潜在项目开发。

ACWA总部位于利雅得，是国际知名的电力与海水淡化公司，拥有72座在营、在建或中后期开发项目，资产遍布12个国家，最大股东为沙特政府全资持有的公共投资基金（PIF）。目前ACWA的全球资产总投资额超过750亿美元，拥有50 GW电力装机容量与 760万吨／日的海水淡化处理力。公司于2009年在北京设立了中国办公室，在其后的13年内实现了与中资企业在投资、融资、施工、采购、执行等全方面的战略合作，并取得显著成果。

On September 24, 2023, the Tianjin Institute of Seawater Desalination and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Natural Resources (hereinafter referred to as the "Desalination Institute") and Saudi International Electricity and Water Company (hereinafter referred to as "ACWA") signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Seawater Desalination Projects".

Zhang Qiufeng, deputy director of the Desalination Institute, and Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA, signed the memorandum of cooperation on behalf of both parties. Ruan Guoling, director of the Desalination Institute, and Raad Al-Saady, vice chairman of ACWA, witnessed the signing of the memorandum. Chu Xizhang, deputy director of the Desalination Institute, Lv Yunhe, executive vice president of ACWA, and the project management teams of both parties attended the signing ceremony.

After the signing ceremony, the two sides held a discussion on further deepening pragmatic cooperation. In the future, the two sides will carry out all-round cooperation in the fields of desalination equipment and materials, engineering operation and maintenance, concentrated seawater chemical resource extraction, water reuse, desalination environmental impact monitoring and assessment, standardization, etc., give full play to their respective advantages, and work together to promote the development of potential desalination projects in many regions around the world, including the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia and China.

ACWA, headquartered in Riyadh, is an internationally renowned power and desalination company with 72 projects in operation, under construction or in the mid- to late-stage development, assets in 12 countries, and its largest shareholder is the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is wholly owned by the Saudi government. Currently, ACWA's total global asset investment exceeds US$75 billion, with 50 GW of installed power capacity and 7.6 million tons/day of desalination capacity. The company established a Chinese office in Beijing in 2009, and in the following 13 years, it has achieved strategic cooperation with Chinese companies in all aspects of investment, financing, construction, procurement, and execution, and has achieved remarkable results.