China and Arab states have continuously enhanced high-quality cooperation in both traditional and emerging areas and are pushing for a deeper and more diversified bilateral economic and commercial partnership, officials, experts and heads of social organizations have said.

They made the remarks at forums and symposiums on economic cooperation, trade development and sister city cooperation between China and Arab states.

Economic and trade cooperation is the cornerstone of the cooperation between China and Arab States, said Yu Zirong, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), during his speech at a symposium on quality cooperation between China and Arab States in Beijing on Friday.

Since the establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in 2004, especially since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward, economic and trade cooperation between China and Arab states has developed comprehensively and achieved remarkable results, Yu said.

In 2021, the stock of two-way direct investment between China and Arab states reached $27 billion, a 2.6 times increase over 10 years ago, according to a report on China-Arab cooperation in the new era released on Thursday.

The report also showed in the first three quarters of 2022, China-Arab trade reached $319.3 billion, up 35.28 percent year on year.

Noting the promising future of both side's economic and trade cooperation, Yu said China and Arab states should vigorously advance the free trade zone talks between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Free Trade Zone, further optimize the trade structure, expand investment in emerging areas and promote the transformation and upgrading of infrastructure cooperation.

At the symposium, a report on the review and prospect of economic and trade cooperation between China and Arab states was published. The report, organized and compiled by CAITEC, reviewed the cooperation achievements China and Arab states have achieved in fields including goods and service trade, infrastructure construction and people-to-people exchanges, and looked into the future trend of cooperation.

To keep track of the economic and trade cooperation between China and Arab states, a series of reports like that one will be issued every two years.

Another forum held online on Wednesday highlighted the necessity of deepening the cooperation between cities in China and Arab states to contribute to the building of an even closer China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era.

Noting the fruitful results yielded from high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in recent years, Arken Imirbaki, president of the Chinese-Arab Friendship Association, said that China looks forward to synergizing its development strategies with Arab states and building an even closer China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era.

Hailing the Belt and Road Initiative as an important link for continuing Arabia-China friendship, Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, assistant secretary general of the Social Affairs sector at League of Arab state, said at the forum that the cooperation between Arab states and China under this framework has yielded fruitful results and brought tangible benefits to peoples on both sides.

Mentioning this forum as the third of this kind, Ghazaleh said they are willing to continue to work with China to consolidate the forum mechanism and push for greater progress in Belt and Road cooperation between cities in China and Arab states.

Hundreds of government officials and foreign ambassadors, entrepreneurs and experts attended the forum and had in-depth exchanges on topics such as digital technology, smart cities, sustainable development and sister-city cooperation.

The events are held in the run-up to the first summit between the two sides, which is scheduled to be held on December 9, 2022 in Saudi Arabia.

(Cover: United Arab Shipping Company containers at a port in Jiujiang City, east China's Jiangxi Province, May 14, 2022. /CFP)