Space exploration is one of the top priorities of China-Arab states hi-tech cooperation. Since 2014, China and Arab states have implemented satellite navigation cooperation based on China's home-grown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). The BDS-based applications promoted by China-Arab States BeiDou Cooperation Forum, the main mechanism, have benefited multiple industries in Arab states, including oil and gas, agriculture, railway construction and urban management.
The China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center, the first overseas center for China's indigenous BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), was inaugurated in Tunisia on April 11, 2018. /Xinhua
In 2018, the China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center, the first overseas center for China's indigenous BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), was inaugurated in Tunisia. In 2021, China and the Arab states agreed to jointly implement pilot projects in key domains in the application of BDS and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) over the 2022-2023 period.
The BDS, which went into trial operation in 2011 and started global service in later 2018, is a navigation satellite system independently developed by China.