It is reported that China will continue to provide financial and technological support for Chinese companies that wish to build infrastructure in Arab states, as well as improve its domestic investment environment for Arabian enterprises.

Top political advisor Mr Jia Qinglin told officials and entrepreneurs attending the second China Arab States Economic and Trade Forum in Yinchuan that China and Arab states should further boost economic cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, energy and infrastructure.

He added that "China is willing to work with Arab states to cement mutual political trust and deepen exchanges in order to achieve mutual benefit and create a win win situation."

He said that China will continue to encourage its enterprises to invest in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors of Arab states.

In the meantime, China will further improve its investment environment in order to court Arab enterprises that wish to set up operations in China.

Mr Jia said at the conference that by the end of 2010, China's accumulated investment in Arab states exceeded USD 15 billion, while Arab enterprises' investment in China totaled USD 2.6 billion, making it one of the fastest growing investment markets for China.

Mr Jia said that trade between China and Arab states has also experienced fast growth over the past few years, and the League of Arab States has become China's seventh largest trading partner.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, trade volume between China and the Arab League members totaled USD 145.4 billion in 2010, up by 34% YoY.

Mr Pei Changhong, an economist from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the full year trade volume is expected to reach USD 200 billion through booming cooperation in the petroleum and engineering sectors.

Mr Jia urged both Chinese and Arab enterprises to further expand the trade scale and deepen cooperation in traditional petroleum exploitation and trade as well as new energy development.

Mr Jia said that additionally, China and Arab states need to further strengthen cooperation in infrastructure construction and tap the potential of new areas like logistics, finance, tourism and cultural innovation in order to diversify exchanges between the two sides.

(Sourced from www.chinadaily.com.cn)