On Nov. 27th, the Department of West Asia and Africa of the Ministry of Commerce (the Ministry), the Department of Industry Promotion of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Secretariat of the China-Arab States Expo (Department of Commerce of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) jointly held the "Symposium on China-Arab States Expo With Embassies of Arab State in China" in Beijing, with the purpose of continuously reinforcing the function of "China-Arab Co-operation" and "Ministry-Autonomous Region Co-organization" mechanism of the Expo, giving full play to the important role of the embassies of Arab states in China in the promotion of political communications and economic and cultural exchanges, and widely mobilizing the enthusiasm of Arab embassies in China to participate in the preparatory work of the Expo. Dr. Mohamed Shaikho, Ambassador of Bahrain to China, Ahmed Hafez, Ambassador of the League of Arab States' (the League) China representative office, Commercial Counselors of 18 Arab states' embassies in China, including Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait and Morocco, as well as representatives of Trade Development Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, some of members of the Advisory Committee of the Expo (the Advisory Committee) in Beijing, and representatives of relevant academic institutions such as the China-Arab Research Institute of Ningxia University (the Research Institute) and other institutions attended the symposium. 

Photo/Expo Affairs Center, Secretariat of the China-Arab States Expo

At the symposium, the attendees had extensive and in-depth discussions and exchanges on strengthening practical economic and trade cooperation between China and Arab states and jointly organizing the 7th session of the Expo. The head of the Expo Secretariat introduced the opening-up and development of Ningxia and the main framework, activities and related information of the 7th session in an all-round way, and mobilized the embassies in China to actively invite the relevant government departments as well as business associations and enterprises of their own countries to have their presence in the 7th session. The ambassadors of the League in China and representatives of the Algerian Embassy in China successively made speeches, expressing that the Expo had made positive contributions to enhancing China-Arab economic and trade cooperation and exchanges, and that they would continue to make joint efforts to positively engage in and support the organization the 7th session and fully utilize this platform to tap into the potential for cooperation between the Arab states and China, thereby steadily promoting economic and trade cooperation of the two sides. Li Shaoxian, Director of the Advisory Committee, made an in-depth analysis of the current situation of China-Arab economic and trade cooperation under the framework of "Belt and Road", and indicated that he would lead the Advisory Committee to adequately leverage its role as a think-tank, pool wisdom and opinions, and make collective efforts to provide intellectual support for the successful hosting of the 7th session. The Director General of the West Asia and Africa Department said that currently China-Arab economic and trade cooperation is enjoying a new favorable situation in terms of trade exchanges, two-way investment and innovative cooperation, and that the Ministry, CCPIT and Ningxia Government will join forces with all parties concerned, taking the implementation of "8 major cooperation initiatives" and "5 cooperation frameworks" of China-Arab practical cooperation as the main line, to coordinate and push forward the overall design of the 7th session in line with the new situation, so as to boost the high-quality development of China-Arab economic and trade cooperation through the grand event of bilateral cooperation.

Photo/Expo Affairs Center, Secretariat of the China-Arab States Expo

In recent years, Ningxia has fully brought its own advantages into play, based on "what China and Arab states need" and showing "what Ningxia can do", and successfully organized 6 sessions of the Expo in collaboration with the Ministry and CCPIT, which has strongly promoted the development of economic and trade cooperation between China and countries jointly building "the Belt and Road", including the Arab countries. The Expo has become an important platform for the two sides to work together in building "Belt and Road". The 7th session will focus on the "8 major cooperation initiatives" and "5 cooperation frameworks" of China-Arab practical cooperation, continuously expand the channels of China-Arab economic and trade cooperation, leverage the mechanism of "China-Arab Co-operation" and "Ministry-Autonomous Region Co-organization", extensively strengthen the ties with the embassies and consulates of Arab countries in China, and give impetus to the business associations and enterprises of Arab countries to enthusiastically show up in the Expo, in an effort to make the Expo achieve more substantial results and to open up more space for the continuous expansion of China-Arab economic and trade cooperation.