China and Arab states are expected to deepen their economic and trade relations in energy and beyond, to add more growth momentum to both sides and inject more positive energy into the world economic recovery, according to experts.

Propelled by the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides will likely scale up trade and investment in fields like digital economy, new infrastructure, clean energy, food safety and high technology, they said.

Data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that China has signed cooperative documents with 20 Arab countries and the Arab League on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, with more than 200 large projects in energy and infrastructure having been implemented.

Bilateral trade value between China and Arab states in the first nine months of the year has exceeded $319 billion, representing nearly the entire amount recorded last year.

"Bound by the history of the ancient Silk Road, China and Arab states are natural partners for BRI cooperation and enjoy broad collaboration prospects as they are highly complementary in trade and economy," said Mao Xiaojing, director of the institute for West-Asian and African studies under the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Arab states have intensified policy efforts to reduce the economy's reliance on fossil fuels and increase strategic autonomy in recent years. According to Mao, that will build on China-Arab ties in industrialization, smart city infrastructure, 5G communications, biomedicine, digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, among many other fields.

One example comes from Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm. It kicked off operations of a biomedicine research and development center in the United Arab Emirates a few days ago, which has world-leading research capabilities and production capacity.

Wu Lei, an executive of Chinese telecommunications and information technology company ZTE's Egypt operations, said the accelerated digital transformation in Arab countries promises a huge space for Arab-China cooperation in digital infrastructure and e-commerce, as China has a complete and mature industrial chain for digitalization, and the two sides share deep mutual trust.

Experts and business leaders also expect China and Arab states to continue strengthening energy cooperation.

Lu Ruquan, deputy head of CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute, said such cooperation will come at multiple fronts and levels, in areas including oil and natural gas, energy conservation, carbon emission reduction, environmental governance and green finance.

Hilal Al Kharusi, CEO of commercial and downstream at Oman-based energy company OQ, said China is one of the most important strategic markets for OQ, and the company is optimistic about its prospects in China.

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