Sci-tech innovations set to further boost China-Arab cooperation

China's partnership with the Arab world has already yielded over 200 major projects, positively impacting nearly 2 billion people. As the two sides solidified this partnership with landmark cooperation deals this week, cutting-edge technological advancements are poised to propel China-Arab cooperation to even greater heights in the coming years.

China proposed the "five cooperation frameworks" to step up the building of a China-Arab community with a shared future on Thursday. The country vowed to build with the Arab side a joint space debris observation center, a BeiDou application and a cooperation and development center, and step up cooperation in manned space mission and passenger aircraft in efforts to boost innovation cooperation.

China also aims to expand cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI) to empower the real economy and promote a global governance system on AI. To promote economic and trade ties, China will accelerate negotiations on bilateral and regional free trade agreements and advance the dialogue mechanism for e-commerce cooperation.

Hi-tech cooperation 

AI, 5G, virtual reality and space navigation were the hi-tech products under the spotlight at the 2019 China-Arab States Expo. CNKI, an online academic library of China, has built up a big data platform for Belt and Road tech cooperation and innovation.

Zhou Yong, general manager of CNKI Knowledge Management Technology Company, told CGTN that the platform has been serving institutions, enterprises and governmental organizations from 23 signatory countries, including tech supplies and demands from these countries in eight major industries such as AI, smart transportation and the Internet of Things.

The Lusail Stadium, the main venue for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was constructed with China Railway Construction Corporation as the main contractor. Shaped like a date palm bowl or an enamel lantern, the stadium hosted the World Cup final. It is the first time a Chinese company has built a World Cup venue, which is featured on the new 10-riyal banknote of Qatar.

"The Lusail Stadium is by far the world's largest, most advanced and most complex professional football stadium built to FIFA standards," Li Chongyang, head of the Chinese side of the engineering team, told the China Media Group (CMG).

Lusail Stadium, which can host 80,000 spectators, shows Chinese enterprises' technical capabilities and service levels, Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for 2022 FIFA World Cup, told CGTN.

Space cooperation

China is pushing forward space cooperation with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding on March 16, 2017, sharing scientific data in space cooperation.

The two then jointly unveiled three lunar images acquired through cooperation on the relay satellite mission for the Chang'e-4 lunar probe, according to the China National Space Administration.

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. BDS-related cooperation expanded to more Arab states in 2021 as they agreed to implement more pilot projects.

In addition, Kuwait's national satellite team looks forward to cooperating with China.

Joint vaccines projects

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) helped China with the clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine and later established localized production lines.

In 2020, the UAE approved registration of an inactivated vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm.

"The UAE was the first country to approach a Chinese vaccine," Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, the UAE ambassador to China, told CGTN. "The production facility can produce 200 million doses per year. The vaccine is not for the UAE, not for China, but for the rest of the world."

New-energy cooperation

The Middle East has the highest sunlight exposure rate in the world, with Saudi Arabia being the world's largest wind photovoltaic base. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, trade between the two reached $87.31 billion in 2021, up 30.1 percent year on year.

With support from China, Qatar built 15 super-large water storage tanks across the country to ensure water safety during the World Cup. Built by a Chinese company, Qatar's 800-megawatt Al Kharsaah solar power plant is one of the largest in the Middle East, increasing the share of renewable energy in Qatar's energy mix and contributing to a "green World Cup."

Qatar is the world's top Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exporter. Chinese energy giant Sinopec and QatarEnergy signed a 27-year LNG deal through which QatarEnergy to provide 4 million tonnes of LNG to Sinopec annually in 2022.

The deal is the first long-term sales and purchase agreement under Qatar's North Field East Project, which is expected to enter production in 2026. Sinopec Chairman Ma Yongsheng said that the deal will help China to meet its natural gas demand and optimize the country's energy structure. The Qatari side is also satisfied with the long-term deal.

Future blueprint 

China and Arab states on Thursday also adopted the Beijing Declaration, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) execution plan for 2024-2026, and a China-Arab states joint statement on the Palestinian issue at the 10th ministerial conference of the CASCF in Beijing.

The Beijing Declaration reaffirms that China and Arab states will continue to support each other on core interests, deepen pragmatic cooperation and expound on their shared positions on regional hot issues, dialogue among civilizations, global governance, AI and climate change.

The execution plan charts the course for strengthening the building of a forum mechanism in the next two years and promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation in fields such as infrastructure, resources and environment, cultural exchange, aerospace, education and health.