China, Middle East urged to step up cooperation

China and countries in the Middle East should join hands to further promote cooperation in economic development and strive for the stability of the world, said experts from the region, emphasizing the importance of global cooperation as the world faces challenges brought about by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In the post-pandemic era, the world will face many uncertainties, Ahmed Abdulkarem Abdulqader Saif, the director of the Sheba Center for Strategic Studies in Yemen, said at an online conference.

The webinar, organized last week by academic institutions from China and the Middle East, discussed the post-pandemic era.

International relations will change as multipolarity in the world is "constantly strengthening", Saif said.

As the world can "never go back to the previous stage", Saif said it is important to promote global development that will be "sustainable and mutually beneficial".

Essam Sharaf, a former prime minister of Egypt, said countries should be encouraged to establish coordination mechanisms to jointly respond to pandemics as well as promote economic and social development as the world is generally interconnected.

"Our world is at a crossroads. If we continue to develop in the previous way, humanity and nature will face more crises," he said.

"But an option is to improve the international order and international governance, and to achieve harmony among civilizations."

The Belt and Road Initiative is a platform that plays a key role in those areas, he said. And he cited the example of the Silk Road of Health, a field of cooperation under the initiative, saying that the mechanism had helped participating countries fight the novel coronavirus by sharing information and experiences as well as providing medical supplies and assistance.

"We should make effective use of the Belt and Road Initiative, especially during such a difficult time," he said.

"We should give full play to the initiative, making it an important tool for promoting international cooperation and promoting harmony among civilizations."

In addition to cooperation on infrastructure, Sharaf said the initiative has also played an important role in many other aspects, including trade and cultural exchanges.

According to official statistics, in the first quarter of this year, despite the severe impact of the epidemic, China's investment in countries involved in the BRI increased by 11.7 percent and trade volume rose by 3.2 percent.

Digital economy

Jonathan Fulton, a professor at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, said changes have been emerging in cooperation between China and the Middle East, especially in infrastructure construction, people-to-people exchanges as well as vaccine research.

Although many infrastructure projects were shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fulton said the digital economy had received more attention than before, becoming a new growth point.

"Chinese companies can also play a more important role in these areas, such as the 5G network and e-commerce," he said.

Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies have continued to expand their business in the Middle East amid the pandemic, serving nearly 80 percent of internet users in the region, said Li Chengwen, the Chinese ambassador for China-Arab States Cooperation Forum Affairs.

Meanwhile, eight countries in the region became the first outside China to use the Beidou Navigation System when China established the global network on June 23.

Also, Abdel Rahman, a professor at the University of Sharjah in the UAE, proposed ensuring all countries have equal access to vaccines as another way of cooperation, adding that China has a lot of resources when it comes to this.

"I hope China can play a greater role and help weak and small countries gain access to the vaccines, which will also highlight China's role as a responsible power."