A photo exhibition showcasing the friendly exchanges and cooperation between China and Arab countries openes on December 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from December 7 to 9.

In his speech at the summit, Xi urged China and Arab states to focus on economic development and promote win-win cooperation, adding that the two sides should strengthen synergy between their development strategies, and promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

Both sides need to consolidate cooperation in traditional areas including economy and trade, energy and infrastructure development, Xi said. In the meantime, he added, the two sides should strengthen new sources of growth such as green and low-carbon development, health and medical services, and investment and finance, and expand new frontiers including aviation and aerospace, digital economy and peaceful use of nuclear energy.

As early as 2004, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum was established. With 17 cooperation mechanisms covering various fields, the forum has become a crucial engine to advance the development of relationships between China and Arab states.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was another important approach to boost the cooperation between China and Arab states, especially in sci-tech cooperation. By far, China has signed BRI cooperation agreements with 20 Arab states and the Arab League. 

Under the BRI framework, the two parties have conducted over 200 large cooperative projects in energy and infrastructure, bringing benefit to nearly two billion people from the two sides.

In particular, the cooperation in green energy was extensive, such as the Al Dhafra solar photovoltaic power plant in United Arab Emirates, which is the world's largest single-site solar power plant, and the Shobak wind project in Jordan, which was supposed to save around 75,000 tons of CO2.

Chinese-Egyptian Ren ewable Energy Laboratory and China-Arab clear energy training center were also built to facilitate both research and application of advanced technologies in green energy.

Regarding cooperation in high-tech, China and Arab countries have jointly carried out the BRI sci-tech innovation action plan. The first China-Arab States Technology Transfer and Innovation Cooperation Conference was held in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in 2015, during which China-Arab States Technology Transfer Center and five overseas bilateral technology transfer centers were established.

China has also signed multiple cooperation documents with Arab countries in terms of aerospace and satellites, helping the successful launch of Algeria's ALCOMSAT-1 communications satellite, Saudi Arabia's Earth observation satellites SaudiSat-5A and SaudiSat-5B, and a scientific experiment satellite for Sudan.

In addition, the China-Arab States BDS Cooperation Forum was established, and the China-Arab BDS/GNSS Center in Tunisia is the first overseas center of BDS.