The first high profile meeting of this year witnessed the start of the Arab-Chinese Co-operation Forum meetings in Beijing. It inaugurates a new era of economic co-operation between the two sides, particularly because the Arab countries have become China's eighth largest trading partner and the seventh largest market for exports and imports at the same time. Thanks to the rapid development of the Chinese economy and its huge manpower, China is able to give Arab institutions and businessmen unlimited business opportunities. A report from Xinhua news agency revealed that Chinese exports reached a volume of $62.3 billion in 2008, according to statistics from Chinese Ministry of Commerce. In the same period, from revenues exports and imports between China and Arab countries in the same period increased to 66 per cent. According to estimates, the volume of China-Arab co-operation could reach as much as $ 100 billion during 2010 if the Chinese government encourages the promotion of mutual investment, and particularly projects extracting natural resources of energy, which could strengthen the strategic trade relations between China and Arab countries. "The year 2009 witnessed fruitful co-operation between China and the Arab world especially at the economic level and included the tackling of the effects of the global financial crisis," revealed the report. Saudi Arabia ranked first as the largest Arab trading partner with China in 2008, with a trade volume amounting to $ 28 billion, followed by the Sultanate of Oman with $ 12.4 billion. The cumulative Chinese shares in Arab countries till the end of 2007 reached about $ 44.2 billion whereas the cumulative Arab shares in China during 2007 reached about $ 28.1 billion. "The recent period has seen considerable development in Egyptian-Chinese relations, as investments and trade exchange between Egypt and China increased during the last period," Mahmoud Mohieddin, the Egyptian Minister of Investment, said recently. He added that China had topped the countries investing in Egypt in 2008/2009, pointing to Chinese investments in service sectors ranging from industry, agriculture, communications and tourism. According to him, Egypt is interested in increasing its economic and investment relations with the countries of East and West, which would lead to diversifying sources of foreign investment in Egypt. In terms of strengthening economic relations, a conference for the dissemination of commercial Chinese business in the Arab world under the auspices of the Arab-Chinese network was held last year in Beijing. Attended by a number of government officials and diplomatic envoys in the Arab embassies and finance, business and media organisations, the number of participants reached 200. The gathering was aimed at exchanging trade information between the two sides. The sixth session of the meeting of senior officials of the China-Arab Co-operation Forum was also held last July, where participants called the meeting to establish a mechanism for energy co-operation between the two sides and the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Senior participants in the meeting expressed appreciation for the excellent results achieved by the Arabic Chinese partnership at the forum. The concluding statement noted that China and the Arab countries agreed to seek to establish a mechanism for co-operation in energy between governments and public and private corporations. Particularly, this included the development of joint projects and programmes with special reference to renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.) and improvements to energy efficiency, as well as the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This will hopefully open the way for both sides to participate in bilateral projects, as well as investment in exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas, the refining and petroleum industry and storage transportation and marketing, consistent with national policies in these areas. Both sides appreciated the results achieved by the creation from the new Arab-Chinese partnership, based on equality, mutual trust and common interests and comprehensive co-operation oriented to peace and sustainable development. "The way forward now is to strengthen bilateral co-operation in several areas, including investment, trade and environmental protection. The two countries will continue to push forward co-operation and exchange in the areas of information, education and tourism," said the statement.
