Some stereotypes have narrowed China-Arab cooperation to only oil and gas, but in reality the partnership stretches far beyond. 

China, Arabs states' cooperation on technologies of the future – like Huawei's 5G, BeiDou satellite navigation, artificial intelligence (AI), new materials, bio-pharmaceuticals, smart cities, astronaut training and space exploration – is flourishing. A newly released document titled "Report on China-Arab Cooperation in a New Era" said agriculture, investment and financing, and hi-tech industries were key sectors for future China-Arab cooperation.

In recent years, public health has become a new cooperative field between China and Arab states. At the early stage of COVID-19 vaccine research and development, the UAE firm G42 teamed up with Chinese Sinopharm to begin vaccine trials in the UAE. UAE is keen to use its close ties with neighboring countries to deliver the China-UAE produced vaccines and other healthcare products to third countries. The UAE firm G42 has already been delivering vaccines to Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain. G42 is also in cooperation with Sinopharm to help Serbia build its own vaccine manufacturing capacity.