A delegation from the General Secretariat of the Union of Arab Chambers, headed by Dr. Khaled Hanafy the Secretary General of the Union, participated in the activities of the 4th China-Arab Expo and the 3rd China-Arab Economic Summit, which was hosted by Yinchuan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, during the period from 5 to 8 September, with the participation of Chinese and Arab officials and business leaders.
The Union’s Secretary General delivered a speech at the opening of the Third Arab-Chinese Economic Summit, in which he stressed that in the light of the changes taking place in the world and the ongoing trade wars and the “Silk Road” initiative launched by the Chinese President in 2013. There is an urgent need to work on strengthening the logistic hubs and linking ports, which will achieve the sustainability of the Arab-Chinese strategic partnership, calling on the Chinese companies to open up more to the Arab countries, which permits the building of a sustainable relationship and creating a strategic partnership with the Arab world by promoting investments in artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and technology supply chains, which will benefit both the Arab and Chinese sides.
Dr. Hanafy also pointed out that the Arab-Chinese economic relations have witnessed great developments in the last ten years, where today the volume of trade exchange between the two sides exceed 244 billion dollars from only 37 billion dollars in 2006, pointing out that there is a common aspiration that the volume of this exchange will increase to 600 billion USD in the coming years.
He also stressed that the Arab-Chinese Expo is one of the most important and largest exhibitions, and attracts a huge number of participants representing the most important companies, considering that direct meetings are necessary in order to maximize the Arab-Chinese relations and achieve strategic partnership between the two sides.
At the end of his speech he pointed to the depth of relations between China and the Arab Republic of Egypt, where the number of Chinese tourists to Egypt, increased by 60% in 2017 to 287 thousand tourists by the end of the year, revealing that the total Chinese investment in the Egyptian market amounted to more than $260 million at the end of 2017 and Egypt's exports to China rose by 60% to about $408 million in 2017 compared to about $255 million in 2016.
Side Meetings
On the sidelines of the exhibition and summit, the UAC Secretary-General Dr. Khaled Hanafy met with Mr. Wu Xiuzhang, the Vice Governor of Ningxia Province, who spoke highly of the relations between China and the Arab countries, pointing out that China is working to maximize the economic relations with the Arab world, saying that Ningxia province is historically a focal point in the path of "Silk Road", stressing that "Ningxia" can play a prominent role in the context of strengthening relations between the Arab and Chinese.
Mr. Xiuzhang said the Ningxia region has three comparative advantages: agriculture, energy and tourism. He pointed out that there are 16.5 million Chinese mu (hectares equal to 15 Chinese mu) of agricultural land in the region, at an individual rate occupies the third place in China, amounting to 2.8 mu per capita, and the area of land irrigated by the water of the Yellow River 7.9 million Chinese mu, making Ningxia is one of 12 national food grain production bases; there are 36.65 million Chinese mu of grassland in Ningxia, one of the top ten pastoral areas in China.
He continued: In terms of energy, the volume of water used by the region from the Yellow River amounted to 4 billion cubic meters, which represents 7% of the volume of water available to benefit; the region ranks sixth in China in terms of discovered coal reserves, which exceeded 46.9 billion tons, of which 39.3 billion tons of coal are located in the Ningdong Coal Mine, which is listed by the state among the top 14 sources of coal production in the country.
“In the field of tourism, the region has a variety of tourism resources reflecting the ancient Yellow River civilization, the charming history of Xixia, the distinctive traditions of the Hui ethnicity and the great desert scenery. There are many tourist attractions in the area such as the mountains of Khilan, Mount Liupan, the Yellow River and Lake Shaho, the Shabutu Reserve and the tombs of the Royal Kings of Xixia, Jiang Taipao Fortress, Chenbibu Media Production City and the ancient Wall of China.
He explained that "The local government began to cultivate large areas in the province four years ago to fight desertification and stop the encroachment of sand towards agricultural areas, where it is about 20 kilometers away, and protect the environment around the Yellow River, in addition to providing jobs and support the state resources through these crops and tries to restore the original life of the desert region, which was green and lively 1500 years ago."
For his part, the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khalid Hanafy, praised the tremendous development witnessed in Ningxia Province in various fields and areas. He also pointed out that "China today is a significant economic power at the international level, and in this sense, the Arab countries are open to China to establish a real strategic partnership and raise the volume of trade to greater levels than those present."
"The Union of Arab Chambers, as the real representative of the Arab private sector has been able to play a noticeable role in bringing the views of businessmen on both sides closer together," he said.
Hanafy stressed that "The cooperation between the Arab and Chinese sides not only in oil and gas, but the Chinese companies also played an important role in investment in infrastructure in the Middle East. Statistics show that during the past ten years, the Chinese companies in the Middle East have invested in electronic communications and retail projects, and trade between China and the Middle East has risen from $20 billion to $230 billion, and by 2020 the bilateral trade is expected to break $500 billion”.
He stressed that "cooperation in the field of science and technology should be enhanced in view of Beijing's keenness to share its experiences with the Arab side in the field of building and developing the park of science and technology, conducting practical cooperation in the fields of planning and building the park, political consultation, capacity building and harmonization with industries and others."
Dr. Hanafy concluded: "the Arab countries hope that the value of trade exchange will exceed 600 billion dollars in the next few years while the Chinese side expressed its real desire to rebuild the regional belt of the Silk Road, which aims to establish a strategic partnership between China and the Arab countries."
Wang Li
The Secretary-General of UAC also met with Mr. Wang LI, the Chairman of the China Council for the Development of International Trade in Shandong Province, they discussed enhancing the Arab-Chinese cooperation in the field of logistics due to the experience of Shandong Province in this field.
Shandong Province is rich in natural resources such as gold, aluminum, diamonds, marble, coal, petroleum (oil fields in Xingli to the north) and iron, considering that "Qingdao Port in Shandong Province is among the top ten ports in the world, it overlooks the Yellow Sea and is located at the entrance to Jiaozhou Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula and this port is described as the world's largest iron ore, and the largest in China and connects to more than 450 ports in more than 130 countries and regions worldwide.
"The total value of marine production in the province rose to 1.55 trillion yuan (about US $220.13 billion), accounting for 20.27 percent of the country's total marine production," he said.
He disclosed that Shandong Province is currently implementing the development strategy in eight aspects: replacing the old momentum, upgrading the countryside, building a strong naval state, and the three decisive battles (preventing and eliminating major risks, eliminating poverty through targeted measures, and combating pollution and its causes), and the integration of the military and civilian sectors, the establishment of new pilot areas of openness to the outside, coordinated regional development, and infrastructure construction.
For his part, the Secretary General of the Union, Dr. Khaled Hanafy said that "the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, are vital routes in terms of promoting the international trade, where more than 30% of this trade passes through these corridors."
He also said that most of the Arab countries have begun to develop their logistics services, which is highly important in terms of developing and improving the subject of supply chains, which would make these countries play a successful regional and international role in terms of strengthening international cooperation.
Dr. Hanafy disclosed that the logistics sector has witnessed tremendous development in the Arab world, in line with the huge "Silk Road" project initiated by China at the initiative of Chinese President Qi Jinping. The business environment has also evolved considerably in the Arab world as many Arab countries have developed long-term strategic plans, and have made remarkable achievements in the implementation of these plans and this is evident in the international reports praising the business climate in our Arab countries.
He stressed that businessmen in the Arab countries are open to establish the best relations of cooperation with their counterparts from the Chinese side, inviting businessmen in Shandong Province and other Chinese provinces to participate in the conferences organized by the Union during the coming period, especially the 18th Arab Investors Conference which will be held in the Kingdom of Bahrain in December, and the conference on investment in food security to be hosted by the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates during the month of November, considering that the exchange of visits and delegations is very important to build strong relations between the Arab & Chinese sides.
Rubens Hannun
Hanafy also met with the President of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber Rubens Hannun in the presence of the Chamber's Director General Tamer Mansour. It was an occasion to review the prospects of Arab-Brazilian economic cooperation, they also discussed the ongoing preparations for the Arab-Brazilian Economic Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in April of next year.
