In 2019, guided by the joint construction of “Belt and Road” and grasping the opportunity of economic transformation of Arab states, China-Arab states economic and trade cooperation enjoyed a constant upgrading and high quality development. China-Arab states trade hit a new record high. China’s investment to Arab states picked up largely and the quality of contracted projects was enhanced with stability, which was a solid step to bolster the construction of China-Arab states community with a shared future.

1.Mechanisms and platforms ran with high quality. In 2019, some politicians like the President of Egypt and the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE attended the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Government delegations and entrepreneur groups from 18 Arab states participated in the second Import Expo, with the intended turnover reaching US$ 210 million, up 69% year on year. Among these, Jordan was the guest of honor, and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Tunisia participated in the country exhibition. The 4th China-Arab States Expo was held successfully in Ningxia in September 2019. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the Expo, and 12 thousand guests from 89 states, regions and international organizations attended the meetings and exhibitions. The second China-Qatar Joint Trade Committee and the sixth China-Kuwait Joint Trade Committee were held successfully, and the third Ministerial Meeting of China-Egypt Production Capacity Cooperation Mechanism was held in Egypt, which promoted the economic and trade cooperation between China and related states to new progress.

2.China-Arab states trade was expected to reach another record high. In January-November, the trade volume between China and Arab states amounted to US$ 239.4 billion, up 8% year on year, and the total volume of the whole year was expected to exceed the record peak in 2014, which was US$ 251.2 billion. Among these, China’s import from Arab states was US$ 131.9 billion, up 4.2% year on year; China’s export to Arab states was US$ 107.5 billion, up 13.2% year on year, with 7 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the same period last year. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Oman and Kuwait have been the top five trade partners of China for 3 consecutive years. China’s import of crude oil from Arab states was increased constantly, further consolidating the status of Arab states as China’s largest import source of crude oil. In January-November, China’s import of crude oil from Arab states was 200 million tons, up 20% year on year, and took up 43.4% of China’s total overseas import of crude oil, increased by 4 percentage points year on year. Saudi Arabia and Iraq were China’s largest and the third largest source country of crude oil respectively.

3.Bilateral investment showed sparking highlights. In January-November, China’s total direct investment flow across all sectors to Arab states was US$ 1.39 billion, up 46% year on year, 54 percentage points higher than the growth rate of China’s outward investment in the same period. UAE and Saudi Arabia were still China’s major investment destinations. China’s newly-added investment to the above two states reached US$ 880 million, taking up 64% of China’s total newly-added investment to Arab states. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait made more investment to China in the fields of petrochemical, Internet and infrastructure construction, and several large projects gained substantial progress.

4.Quality of contract projects was enhanced with stability. In January-November, the newly-signed contract value of Chinese enterprises in Arab states of contracted projects was US$ 25.5 billion, down 8% year on year; the completed turnover was US$ 23.1 billion, up 3% year on year. China’s cooperation scale in the market of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Algeria and Egypt was gradually enlarged, and that in the market of Qatar, Tunis and Morocco gained rapid growth. Several large projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE on housing construction, transportation and new energy were officially started, and will step into peak season of construction in succession.

5.New power for pragmatic cooperation gathered. The cooperation on high and new technology between China and Arab states extended to the fields of communication, aerospace, Internet technology and digital economy, and made positive progress. Chinese telecommunication enterprises speeded up 5G cooperation with Gulf states, and undertook several 5G network construction projects. The first board of directors and senior officials meetings of China-Arab States Bank Consortium were held successfully, with the supporting role of financial services strengthened continuously. China and UAE signed the memorandum of understanding of tripartite cooperation with Africa, and the tripartite cooperation projects in some countries have gained early harvest.