An economic and trade ministerial meeting between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) achieved positive results, with the two sides deepening exchanges and cooperation in areas including trade and investment, the digital economy, sustainable development and infrastructure, according to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).
The meeting was held in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province on Sunday. It was a concrete action to implement the economic and trade achievements of the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-GCC Summit, as well as to promote the deepening of China-GCC economic and trade cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The meeting was also the first time for the economic and trade departments of China and the GCC member states to carry out collective dialogue, experts noted.
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi and heads of the economic and trade departments of GCC member states, including Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the two sides reached a broad consensus on topics such as jointly safeguarding the multilateral trading system, promoting two-way investment, deepening cooperation in the industry chain and supply chain, upgrading the level of connectivity and promoting energy transformation. They adopted a joint statement on deepening economic and trade cooperation.
Wang said that Chinese modernization will bring new opportunities for China-GCC cooperation. The GCC member states are actively promoting industrial diversification, and the prospects for China-GCC economic and trade cooperation are broad.
Wang noted that the two sides will reach an early agreement on a free trade agreement, support and promote WTO reform and actively promote the operation of the joint investment commission and support cooperation between sovereign wealth funds from both sides.
China and the GCC will work together to promote industrial synergy and deepen the "oil and gas +" cooperation model and encourage enterprises of both sides to carry out investment and cooperation in line with market-oriented principles, Wang said. The two sides will also pragmatically explore opportunities for infrastructure cooperation in areas such as ports, aviation, communications and pipelines.
In addition, the two parties will actively promote energy transformation, and continuously unleash the potential for cooperation in clean energy such as photovoltaic, wind power, nuclear, hydrogen and biomass, as well as in the new-energy vehicle industry such as power batteries and smart charging piles, according to Wang.
All participants highly valued the progress made in the implementation of the economic and trade initiatives of the first China-GCC Summit, and unanimously said that they would strengthen the dovetailing of the BRI with the development strategies of GCC member states, enhance the construction of economic and trade cooperation mechanisms, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in trade and investment, the digital economy, sustainable development, infrastructure and other areas based on platforms such as the economic and trade ministerial meeting, so as to continuously cultivate new growth points of economic and trade cooperation between China and the GCC, said the MOFCOM.
Albudaiwi said on Saturday while meeting with Wang that the GCC is optimistic about China's development prospects and is willing to further strengthen economic and trade cooperation with China under the BRI framework to achieve mutual benefits and win-win results.
"As the GCC member states are all energy-rich countries and important BRI partner countries, the recent meeting between China and the GCC reflected the precise alignment of the BRI," Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Song noted that financial cooperation will become a vital area between the two sides. In addition, as Arab countries are also facing the transformation of economic diversification, hoping to develop new energy, and China has competitive advantages in this field, both sides have the willingness and demand to enhance cooperation, which will produce an important demonstration effect for the high-quality construction of the BRI.
