About 1,000 Chinese and Arabian entrepreneurs gathered in Beijing Tuesday to discuss business opportunities in mining, construction, finance, machinery manufacturing, telecommunications, chemical, medical, trade and textile industries.

The plan for this entrepreneurs' conference was set during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the League of Arab States (LAS) headquarters in January 2004.

In the past ten years, the common interests shared by China and Arabian countries in various economic fields have been increasing, said Hamdi Tabba'a, chairman of the Federation of Arab Businessmen at the conference.

He suggested the two sides make full use of each other's experience in technology and investment in order to develop more projects with high output.

"The two sides have many investment opportunities in petroleum, telecommunications, information technology, railway, power, chemical industry and fertilizer," he said.

The investment between China and Arabian countries has increased, said Liu Yajun, director of the Investment Promotion Agency of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

After so many years of development, China is competitive in the world manufacturing, high-technology and traditional textile industries, Liu said.

Since Chinese and Arabian economies are complementary, the mutual investment will make each other's companies and products more competitive, he said.

With the rapid development of Chinese economy, China has become the world's second largest oil consumer and third crude oil importer, said Jiang Fan, deputy director of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce.

As the Middle East is abundant for petroleum resources, oil cooperation between the two sides has a bright prospect, she said. In 2004, China's imports of crude oil from Arabian countries accounted for 36.5 percent of its total imports.

Source: Xinhua