China–Arab States Expo Promotes Sino-Arab Economic and Trade Cooperation
From September 21 to 24, 2023, the Sixth China–Arab States Expo was held in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. First held in 2013, the expo has become a significant platform for China and Arab states to promote pragmatic cooperation and advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
Attendees and exhibitors
Statistics show 78 academicians and experts, more than 30 business associations, and 1,495 businesses from home and abroad participated in this expo, with 82% of the attendees from the business community, enterprises and business associations.
In the past decade, the China–Arab States Expo has attracted participation from 112 countries and regions with over 6,000 domestic and foreign enterprises, and over 400,000 businesspeople.
Fruitful results
In terms of practical economic and trade cooperation, this expo ended with a total of 403 cooperation projects and resulted in a total planned investment and trade amount of 170.97 billion yuan (about 23.43 billion U.S. dollars).
During the expo, two reports were promulgated, including The 2022 Annual Report on the Development Process of China-Arab Economic and Trade Relations. Two major achievements were highlighted including a compilation of 300 advanced and practically applicable technologies for Arab countries. A total of 36 cooperation agreements, such as the strategic cooperation agreement on the China–Saudi Arabia Jazan Industrial Zone, were signed.
As the guest country of honor at this year's expo, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent a delegation of more than 150 economic and trade representatives to participate in the exhibition, and has reached agreements on 15 cooperation projects valued at 12.4 billion yuan.
At the China–Saudi Arabia Trade and Investment Promotion Symposium held during this year's expo, nine key cooperation projects were signed by China and Saudi Arabia. With a total value of 11.5 billion yuan, these agreements covered a wide variety of fields, such as clean energy, new materials, tourism and cloud computing.