China-Arab States Expo kicks off

The China-Arab States Expo kicked off today in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, demonstrating the growing economic relations between the world's 2nd largest economy and the Arab world.

Juma Mohamed Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, who is leading the UAE high-level delegation, has underscored the significant importance of the international event which he described as "a strategic platform for a high-level dialogue on aspects of economic, trade, and cultural cooperation between China and Arab nations."

The opening ceremony of the event, which will run until September 8th, was attended by top executives from China and a number of Afro-Arab countries.

"China is a significant trade partner of the UAE with AED170.2 billion of bilateral trade exchange recorded last year," he noted. He added that the Ministry of Economy’s participation in the events fits within the context of the county’s efforts to promote its investment-conducive environment and economic diversification policy at different international forums.

"Arab-Chinese trade cooperation has been impressively growing over the past years, amounting to more than US$168 billion in 2016 and is projected to hit over $500 billion over the coming few years," Al Kait noted.

"We seek to develop partnerships in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on account of its growing contributions to the Chinese economy as a direct result of the support the province has been receiving from the Chinese Central Government in Beijing in addition to the vast resources the province abounds in, which enables it to launch ambitious economic developmental plans and consequently it will be more open with the Arab and Islamic nations over the coming period."

Under the theme of "Towards a New Model of Partnership Featuring Results-oriented and Win-win Cooperation" for the general purpose of "Friendship, Cooperation, Development", the event is jointly organized by China’s Ministry of Commerce, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the People’s Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Since 2010, three sessions of China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum and two sessions of China-Arab States Expo has been successfully held in Ningxia, which has been widely recognized by the Arab States and other countries along the "Belt and Road" with extensive and profound influence.

A series of conferences and exhibitions will be organized in China-Arab States Expo 2017 including The 7th Session of the Arab-Chinese Businessmen Conference of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum; China-Arab States Business Summit 2017 and International Comprehensive Commodity and Service Exhibition. Other functions will include the China-Arab States Agricultural Cooperation Forum and Modern Agriculture Exhibition; China-Arab States Auto Cooperation Meeting and Chinese Auto Brand Exhibition; China-Arab States International Logistics Cooperation Meeting; China-Arab States Expo Credit Forum 2017; China-Arab States Technology Transfer and Innovation Cooperation Conference and High-tech and Equipment Exhibition; China-Arab States High-Speed Railway Session and China High-Speed Railway Technology Exhibition; China-Arab States Financial Cooperation Summit; Online Silk Road Conference and Cloud Computing and Big Data Application Exhibition; China-Arab States International Capacity Cooperation Forum and Infrastructure and Capacity Cooperation Exhibition; and China-Arab States Tour Operators Conference 2017.