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A customer goes shopping at Huawei’s flagship store in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, on February 2. [Photo/Xinhua]
China and Arab countries are expected to deepen their economic and trade relations in the field of energy and beyond, in order to add more growth momentum to both sides and inject more positive energy into the recovery of the world economy, according to experts.
Driven by the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides are likely to increase trade and investment in areas such as the digital economy, new infrastructure, clean energy, food security and high technology, they said.
Data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that China signed documents on cooperation with 20 Arab countries and the Arab League on the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, whereby more than 200 large projects in the field of energy and infrastructure were implemented.
The value of bilateral trade between China and Arab countries in the first nine months of this year exceeded 319 billion dollars, which is almost the entire amount recorded last year.
“Bonded by the history of the ancient Silk Road, China and the Arab states are natural partners for BRI cooperation and enjoy broad prospects for cooperation because they are highly complementary in trade and economy,” said Mao Xiaojing, director of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the China academy for international trade and economic cooperation.
In recent years, Arab states have intensified political efforts to reduce the economy’s reliance on fossil fuels and increase strategic autonomy. According to Mao, this will build on Sino-Arab ties in industrialization, smart city infrastructure, 5G communications, biomedicine, the digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, among many other areas.
One example comes from Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm. A few days ago, a biomedical research and development center in the United Arab Emirates, which has world-leading research capacities and production capacities, started operating.
Wu Lei, executive director of Chinese telecommunications and information technology company ZTE’s operations in Egypt, said that the accelerated digital transformation in Arab countries promises huge scope for Arab-Chinese cooperation in digital infrastructure and e-commerce, as China has a complete and mature industrial chain. for digitization, and the two sides share a deep mutual trust.
Experts and business leaders also expect China and the Arab states to continue to strengthen energy cooperation.
Lu Ruquan, deputy head of CNPC’s Economic and Technological Research Institute, said such cooperation will come on multiple fronts and levels, in areas including oil and natural gas, energy conservation, carbon reduction, environmental management and green finance.
Hilal Al Kharusi, executive director of the commercial and downstream sector of Oman-based energy company OK, said China is one of the most important strategic markets for OK, and the company is optimistic about its prospects in China.
liuzhihua@chinadaili.com.cn
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