By He Zhuoyan (People’s Daily Online)

The Third China-Arab States Business Summit, held in Ningxia (Photo provided by China-Arab States Expo)

“We are willing to promote external trade and two-way investments with Arab states in order to pursue win-win cooperation so that businesses can conduct exchange and dialogues,” said Chen Jian’an, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), during his opening speech at the Third China-Arab States Business Summit which was held in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Sept. 5. 

Sponsored by CCPIT and the People’s Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region under the framework of the China-Arab States Expo, the summit was a platform for business-oriented cooperation and exchange.

Liu Kewei, vice chairman of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, affirmed the idea to create a fair environment for China-Arab cooperation. “We wish to create a business environment that is market-based, law-based and internationalized. We wish to increase trade and investment facilitation to boost the quality development of China-Arab business cooperation,” Liu said during his speech.

Themed on “Promote Economic and Trade Exchanges, Propel Practical Cooperation,” the Third China-Arab States Business Summit invited 500 representatives from government departments, large chambers of commerce, business associations and enterprises from China and Arab states, as well as other countries along the Belt and Road.

Speaking of the Belt and Road Initiative, Mahmoud Hassan Elamin, head of the Representative Office of the Arab League in Beijing, gave high praise to China’s BRI, noting “The BRI is the most important initiative proposed in the past decade. It is all-embracing, covering both innovation and development. There is no doubt that this initiative will promote an enormous change in cooperation,” said Mahmoud Hassan Elamin.

Khaled Mohamad Hanafy, Secretary-General of the General Union of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries also mentioned how the BRI had promoted cooperation that will bring mutual benefit to both sides. He said that China and Arab countries are complementary to each other, and both sides need to set eyes on the bigger picture and try to identify more opportunities under the framework of the Belt and Road.

Khaled Mohamad Hanafy, Secretary-General of General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries (Photo provided by China-Arab States Expo)

The summit also witnessed several report releases and project signings. This included the release of the Development Process of China-Arab States Economic and Trade Relations Annual Report 2018, a research report on the Third-Party Market Cooperation Opportunities between China and Arab States, the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation on China-Arab Commercial Law and several economic and trade cooperation projects as well as the launch of China-Arab Commercial Law Service Platform.

Achievement release and project signing (Photo provided by China-Arab States Expo)

“This is a huge opportunity,” said Wen Gang, Vice President of China Communications Construction Co., Ltd.

“We will continue to strengthen and increase policy-strategy alignment and invest more resources into the economic and social development of Arab States and give full play to our industrial advantages in urban development, infrastructure construction and manufacturing in Arab states,” added Wen.

Several promotional meetings for countries and enterprises along the Belt and Road were also held after the summit as an important part of the Third China-Arab States Business Summit.