China has signed cooperation agreements with 18 Middle Eastern and North African countries to jointly develop the Belt and Road Initiative.
The countries include Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Libya, Somali and Tunisia and others.
China and Middle East/North African joint efforts to push forward cooperation on the Belt and Road has reached notable achievements, showing great potential and broad prospect, Qian Keming, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Commerce said at a press conference.
Qian said that China will further strengthen connections with Middle East and North African countries to jointly build the Belt and Road. Chinese enterprises and financial institutions are encouraged to deepen cooperation with the in sectors of port, railway, electricity and telecommunications.
More efforts will also be made to promote cooperation between the two sides covering low-carbon energy, finance and high technologies.
In 2018, bilateral trade volume between China and the 18 countries reached $244.3bn, an increase of 28% year-on-year. Chinese enterprises had invested $1.2bn in countries industrial sectors, primarily energy, infrastructure, manufacture, finance and e-commerce.