China-Arab States Cooperation Forum opens in Beijing

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The China-Arab States Cooperation Forum opened Thursday in Beijing with the participation of four Arab leaders as well as China’s president.

Beijing is "ready to work with the Arab side to carry forward the spirit of China-Arab friendship," Xi Jinping told the forum.

Xi proposed “five cooperation frameworks” to "step up the building of a China-Arab community with a shared future," said Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Tunisian President Kais Saied and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan are attending the forum.

Xi said that China will host the second China-Arab States Summit in China in 2026.

​​​​​​​China and the Arab states are marking the 20th anniversary of the forum, which was founded in 2004.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Mauritanian counterpart Mohamed Salem Ould Merzouk co-chair the forum.

Foreign ministers or representatives of the Arab states and the secretary-general of the League of Arab States will also attend the forum.

The forum serves as a formal dialogue initiative between China and the Arab League to discuss the primary multilateral coordination mechanism between the world's second-largest economy and the Arab states.

With an annual turnover of around $400 billion, China is currently the largest trade partner of the Arab region.