China-Arab Cooperation Forum

China-Arab Cooperation Forum


www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-21 15:21:57 Print

MANAMA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The third ministerial meeting of China-Arab Cooperation Forum opened in Bahraini capital Manama on Wednesday. The following is some background information of the forum.

China has established diplomatic relations with all the 22 members of the Arab League (AL). Since the world entered a new millennium, China and the Arab countries have witnessed an increasing development of cooperation in various fields, making it a need to set up a bilateral mechanism to further push forward their cooperative relations.

After years of preparation and negotiation between the two sides, China-Arab Cooperation Forum was formally established in January 2004 when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited AL headquarters in Cairo.

The forum aims to serve as a platform to exchange views between China and the Arab nations and step up their mutually-beneficial cooperation in the areas of politics, economy and trade, culture, technology and international affairs.

The first ministerial meeting of the forum was held in Cairo-based AL headquarters in September 2004 with a joint declaration and an action plan adopted.

The second ministerial meeting was held in Beijing in 2006. Foreign ministers or representatives of China and 22 Arab countries as well as AL Secretary General Amr Moussa attended the two-day conference.

The two sides signed four documents after the meeting, including a 2006-2008 action plan, a communique, an environmental cooperation plan and a memorandum of understanding for a meeting between Chinese and Arab entrepreneurs.

The forum has also convened five meetings of senior officials from China and Arab countries every year since 2004 to maintain political contact.

Besides, a series of activities have been held based on the framework of the forum since its inauguration, which included Arabart festival in Beijing, China-Arab civilization dialogue seminar, China-Arab friendship conference, and China-Arab entrepreneur conference.




Editor: An Lu