King Abdullah of oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia will start his first tour outside the Middle East on Sunday with visits to China, India, Malaysia and Pakistan, officials said.

King Abdullah, who took over the helm of the Gulf kingdom from the late king Fahd in August, will travel on Jan 22 to China - the world's largest oil consumer, a senior Saudi official told AFP .

The king was due to visit India Jan 25, Malaysia on Jan 29 and Pakistan in early February, he said.

The Asian tour will be King Abdullah's first trip outside the region since succeeding to the throne on the death of King Fahd.

The monarch only travelled to Abu Dhabi last month to attend the Golf Cooperation Council summit.

The Chinese foreign ministry said King Abdullah will discuss oil and energy security when he meets President Hu Jintao during his China trip.

Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said two-way trade between Riyadh and Beijing rose by 39 percent to US$14 billion between January and November 2005.

He said China imported 20.1 million tonnes of oil from Saudi Arabia, the world's number one oil exporting country which sits on more than a quarter of global reserves.

First visit to China

Kong said the visit would be the first by a Saudi king since the two nations established diplomatic relations in 1990.

However King Abdullah visited China and Pakistan during his decade as crown prince and de-facto ruler of the strictly-conservative Muslim kingdom.

Earlier this month, the Indian foreign ministry said King Abdullah has offered to renovate the nation's largest mosque.

Indian press reports said the offer had rattled India's security agencies which feared an influx of Saudi money could be used for the "promotion of sectarianism" in the mainly Hindu but officially secular country.

The sprawling Jama Masjid in the Indian capital's teeming old quarter was built in 1656 by Emperor Shahjahan and is in need of repair. The mosque can hold 20,000 worshippers,

India's Muslim population totals 130 million people, according to the 2001 census.

Pakistan and India provide the majority of the 12 million foreign workers in the six GCC countries where they also make up one third of the residents of the Gulf states.