Xi: World must work for two-state solution

Over many years, China has been the biggest trading partner of Arab states, with bilateral trade increasing nearly tenfold from $36.7 billion in 2004 to a staggering $398 billion in 2023. China has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with all 22 Arab states and the Arab League, and more than 200 large-scale projects have been implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative.

To step up the building of a China-Arab community with a shared future, Xi proposed five frameworks for boosting win-win cooperation with Arab nations in terms of innovation, investment and finance, energy, trade and economy, and people-to-people exchanges.

He said that China will enhance cooperation with the Arab side on artificial intelligence to make it empower the real economy and to promote a broad-based global governance system on AI.

China supports closer cooperation between financial institutions from the two sides and welcomes Arab banks to join the Cross-border Interbank Payment System, Xi said.

To foster a more multifaceted framework for energy cooperation, Xi said China will further enhance strategic cooperation with the Arab side on oil and gas, and integrate supply security with market security.

"We will support Chinese energy companies and financial institutions in participating in renewable energy projects in Arab states with total installed capacity of over 3 million kilowatts," he said.

Xi said that China stands ready to accelerate negotiations on bilateral and regional free trade agreements with Arab countries and advance the dialogue mechanism for e-commerce cooperation.

He also announced that China plans to work with the Arab side to achieve the goal of 10 million two-way visits of tourists in the next five years.

Lebanese Ambassador to China Milia Jabbour, who attended the opening ceremony, said that China-Arab cooperation "is developing and reaching new horizons of interest to both sides and has important implications for the development of the Arab countries and China, which is mutually beneficial".

Jabbour added that China's position on the Palestinian question is historical, consistent and principled, and conforms with international law.

Highlights of Xi's speech

mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn