YINCHUAN - The fifth China-Arab States Expo, held as scheduled despite the COVID-19 pandemic, concluded on Sunday in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. During the four-day event, delegates from home and abroad saw 277 projects inked and reached common ground in fields of cooperation such as the digital economy and clean energy.

China, the largest trading partner of Arab states, has the confidence to further expand cooperation with Arab countries in emerging fields such as the digital economy, new energy and artificial intelligence (AI), said Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming via videolink at the opening ceremony.

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As one of the expo's guest countries, Morocco erected a national pavilion with an area of over 300 square meters, in which visitors could gain an overview of its culture, tourism, aerospace and renewable energy development. It also held a trade and investment promotional event.

The China-Arab States Expo has enhanced bilateral enterprise cooperation and non-governmental exchanges in a pragmatic and innovative way, said Nasser Bouchiba, president of the Africa-China Cooperation Association for Development in Morocco. He said it has injected strong impetus into mutual development, playing a leading and demonstrative role for Arab states and China to jointly build a high-quality Belt and Road.

Facing the pandemic and profound global changes, participants from China and Arab states said they believed the two sides need more than ever to seek common development and tap cooperation potential.

The expo, which was downsized this year for COVID-19 prevention and control, attracted thousands of enterprises from home and abroad at its offline and online sessions.

Senior officials from countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Tunisia made speeches via video, aiming to attract more investment and business.

Data shows that 277 deals worth an approximate total of 156.7 billion yuan (about 24 billion U.S. dollars) were signed at the expo, covering fields including electronic information, clean energy, new materials, green food, and capacity cooperation.

Arab countries and China are highly complementary in their economies and enjoy broad cooperation prospects, which drives the continuous development of practical bilateral cooperation based on mutual benefit, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said via video.

"The signed projects reflect that the expo has become an important platform to add new momentum for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and bring about huge opportunities for the complementary advantages and open development of countries and regions along the Belt and Road," said Zhao Yongqing, executive vice-chairman of Ningxia regional government.