China offers financial, humanitarian aid to promote development, security in Arab world

Chinese President Xi Jinping offered here on Thursday financial and humanitarian assistance to improve livelihood, fight terrorism and promote development in the Arab world.

Xi unveiled a host of moves including loans, financial aid and common investment fund in his speech delivered at the Arab League headquarters based in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

The Chinese leader is on his first state visit to the North African nation. Before arriving in Egypt, Xi also visited Saudi Arabia, the first leg of his three-nation Middle East tour, which will also take him to Iran later this week.

The Chinese government has decided to pledge 50 million RMB (7.53 million U.S. dollars) to help improve the lives of the Palestinians and 230 million RMB (about 35 million dollars) for Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Yemen as humanitarian assistance, said Xi.

Beijing also wants to promote the industrialization in the Middle East. To achieve that end, China is going to hand out a number of loan programs, including a 15-billion exclusive loan, a 10-billion business lending, and 10 billion concessional loans so as to facilitate industrial capacity cooperation between China and the regional countries, according to the president.

Meanwhile, China also prepares to work with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to set up a common investment fund worth 20 billion dollars that focuses on traditional sources of energy in the Middle East, infrastructure, and high-end manufacturing.

Xi also offered in his speech 300 million dollars for law enforcement cooperation, police training so as to help build up the abilities of the regional countries to maintain stability. Endi