High-tech cooperation integral to China-Arab relationship

World
Europe

00:51

China is willing to enhance collaboration with Arab states in high-tech areas and new technologies, together with financial cooperation, to reach more consensuses and achievements, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the eighth ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) on Tuesday in Beijing.

China will pursue further cooperation with Arab states based on their medium- and long-term developmental strategic planning in multiple fields, including the digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI), new materials, bio-pharmaceuticals and smart cities, said Xi.

In light of the key fields that draw bilateral interest, China and Arab countries will establish joint laboratories to implement a partnership in science and technology.

“We need to accelerate the construction of a cyber Silk Road and strive for more cooperative consensuses and outcomes in Internet infrastructure, big data, cloud computing, and e-commerce,” Xi added.

00:23

The two sides will also jointly build a “Belt and Road” space information corridor to “strengthen aerospace cooperation and enable Arab states to access China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and meteorological satellite remote sensing technology for the good of their national development,” Xi pointed out.

BeiDou is China’s homegrown navigation satellite system, which was developed independently, following the other three systems in the world: The United States' GPS, the Russian GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

Early on May 24, 2017, a statement was signed by both sides to promote the use of BDS in the Arab countries at the first China-Arab States BDS Cooperation Forum in Shanghai.

The BeiDou system will be able to provide basic services to Arab states at the end of 2018. /CGTN Photo

The two sides pledged to make joint efforts in applying the BDS to various sectors in Arab states including smart transportation, land mapping, agriculture and public security, and to improve the development of satellite navigation in Arab states, said Wang Li, chairman of the China Satellite Navigation System Committee.

The BeiDou system will be able to provide basic services to Arab states as well as other countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes by the end of 2018, and to the whole world by 2020.