The participants in the workshop on China-Arab relations in the second decade of the 21st century at Cairo University emphasize on Thursday the importance of boosting cooperation between China and Arab countries.

The workshop is organized in association with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Cairo University, and comes just a week before the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which will be held next month in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Professor Hossam Kamel, President of Cairo University, highlighted the bilateral cooperation between the two sides, saying that it will serve as solid base for overall friendly relations and immediate interests, and contributes significantly to communication and cooperation in various fields.

"Our cooperation in the political, economic, trade, cultural, educational, health care and many other fields has been deepened and yielded fruitful results," said Kamel in his speech, which was read by Professor Hussein Khaled, Vice President of Cairo University.

For his part, professor Yang Guang from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences highlighted the needs for mutual respect and mutual support between the two sides in regard with issues that are related with respective and fundamental interests.

"In this regard, we can talk about the mutual support for national liberalization movements, the issue of Taiwan and the issue of the Palestinians among others," Yang said.

Yang also stressed the need for further development of economic relations on the basis of mutual benefit between Arabs and China.

Egypt is the first African and Arab country that established diplomatic relationship with China. This year is considered special for the relations between Egypt and China, as it coincides with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of strategic cooperation between the two sides.

China and Arab countries have kept close coordination in international and regional affairs and the two sides have witnessed increasing political mutual trust and close economic ties. China is now the largest exporter to the Arab world, overtaking the United States for the first time since the 1960s.