(Updated) Spotlight: China-Arab leaders expecting more achievements from strategic cooperation

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said he expected new development of the strategic cooperation between China and Arab states under China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Elaraby made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua before the opening of the Seventh ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF).

"This meeting will witness new documents signed with fruitful achievements, which are crucial to the roadmap of China-Arab relations," Elaraby said.

Under the theme of "Working together on the Belt and Road Initiative and deepening China-Arab strategic cooperation," the seventh CASCF ministerial meeting will be held Thursday in Doha, capital of Qatar. Around 200 representatives from 22 Arab countries will discuss the future development of the China-Arab relations with Chinese delegations led by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Ahead of the ministerial meeting, the Second CASCF Strategic and Political Dialogue at the Senior Officials' Level and the 13th CASCF Senior Officials Meeting were held in the same conference room on Wednesday.

"Arab states signifies their friendship with China and takes the CASCF mechanism as an important platform of learning from each other and reaching consensus," Abdullah Saleh Al-Saadi, a dean of the Arab diplomatic corps and Oman's Ambassador to China said in his speech at the senior officials meeting.

He told Xinhua after the meeting that the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcomed by all of the Arab countries, because the initiative bears not only historical bonds, but also pragmatic cooperation.

"The initiative also adds new substance to the CASCF mechanism by providing strategic cooperation blueprint," Al-Saadi said, noting that China has established strategic partnership with eight Arab countries and become the second trade partner of the Arab world, which means that the Belt and Road Initiative has pushed forward the China-Arab relations in a right direction.

Since its establishment in 2004, the CASCF has made great achievements in the past 12 years. In 2014, President Xi highlighted a "1+2+3" cooperation pattern for the China-Arab relations in his keynote speech on the Sixth CASCF ministerial meeting.

In January, Chinese government issued its first policy document to the Arab states before Xi's visit to this region, providing a plan of future for the cooperation between the two sides.

Outside the conference room, an exhibition of Chinese development achievement in the fields of high speed train, the BeiDou navigation satellite system and nuclear energy also attracted attention from the Arab leaders.

Held by the governments of Qatar and China, the exhibition, which will last until Thursday, provides a good opportunity for the Arab world to know more about China's high-tech sectors and discuss with Chinese companies to promote more cooperation in the field of infrastructure.

"Three years ago, when I came to the Arab world, I found they know nothing about China's high-speed railway. Now, however, the Arab states have made a leap forward in their knowledge of China," Zhou Zhiliang, chairman of the China Railway Signal & Communication Co., Ltd. told Xinhua at the exhibition.

"Thanks to the development of the China-Arab relations under the Belt and Road Initiative, we are talking with several Arab countries about the high-speed railway projects recently," he added.

Zhou also said that Chinese companies take the China-Arab cooperative mechanism as a hub of opportunities, hoping more practical consensus could be reached during the ministerial meeting.

"High speed train, navigation satellite system and nuclear energy have become China's 'name cards'," general manager of the Nuclear Energy Project from the China Zhongyuan Engineering Corp. Huang Meide said.

He said that his company has developed a mature and complete system of the nuclear industry with more than 60 years' experience. Through this exhibition, his company will share China's nuclear energy technology with more Arab countries.

"From my perspective, the pragmatic cooperation should be the nature of the China-Arab relations," Huang added.

During the ministerial meeting, China's foreign minister is expected to discuss with his Arab counterparts and the Arab League secretary-general how to jointly advance the Belt and Road Initiative and deepen the China-Arab strategic cooperation, and exchange views on international and regional issues of common concern, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday.

The attendants will also review cooperation plans for the coming two years, it added.

The meeting, the first high-level political dialogue between China and the Arab countries since President Xi's visit to the Middle East earlier this year, will "boost dialogue and cooperation, and facilitate forum building," according to the ministry. Endi