Your Excellency Mohamad Barakat, Chairman of the Union of Arab Banks,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning. Let me first thank the Union of Arab Banks for its kind invitation. I appreciate the opportunity to hear your insightful views about the economic prospects in the Arab world and share with you my observations on the economic cooperation between China and Arab states.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the past 65 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially the over 30 years of reform and opening-up, tremendous changes have taken place in my country. China's economic and social development has made huge progress and the Chinese people's livelihood has markedly improved. The Chinese economy has become the second largest in the world. In 2013, China's GDP reached 9.3 trillion US dollars, total imports and exports exceeded 4 trillion dollars, and China is now the top trading partner of 128 countries, Lebanon included.

In the meantime, we are clear-eyed about China's reality. This is a country with a large population of 1.3 billion, and despite the large size of its economy, the per capita GDP lags behind some 80 countries. Hence, China is still a developing country, and we need to work long and hard before we can achieve full modernization at home. Now the Chinese people are striving to achieve the "two centenary goals", namely, to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, and to build China into a modern socialist country that is strong, prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of this century. This is what we call the "Chinese dream".

The development China pursues is peaceful and open in nature. Such development is to be achieved through cooperation, and it brings win-win outcomes. While working to realize the "Chinese dream", we also hope to see that all other countries in the world, Arab states included, will stand to benefit more from our development. In the next five years, China will import over 10 trillion US dollars of goods, make over 500 billion dollars of outbound direct investment and the Chinese people will take more than 500 million overseas trips as tourists. These figures speak to the tremendous opportunities and benefits that China could bring to the Arab countries and the world at large. They also represent enduring and unlimited business opportunities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would be remiss if I did not mention the ancient Silk Road when talking about the exchanges between China and Arab countries. It was a magic road that connected the two sides as early as over 2,000 years ago and paved the way for China-Arab friendship and interaction. Along the Silk Road, Chinese paper-making, gun powder, printing and compass were passed on to the Arab region and Europe. And Arab astronomy, calender and medicine were introduced to China. The Silk Road also served as a bridge between the Chinese and Arab people, helping them to know each other better and forge a profound friendship.

Today when much has changed in the world we live in, China and Arab countries have become closer and more interdependent than at any time in history. Take economic and trade ties as an example, China is now the second largest trading partner of Arab countries and the top trading partner of Lebanon and other eight Arab countries. Arab countries have become China's largest source of crude oil supply, seventh biggest trading partner, and important market for project contracting and overseas investment.

To meet the new development trend, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to build the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" last year, known as the " One Belt and One Road" initiative. This brings new dimensions and dynamism to the ancient Silk Road. The "Silk Road Economic Belt" is designed to span from China to Central and West Asia, and onward to Europe, while the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" will extend from China to Southeast Asia and to the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf region. Located at the crossroads of the "One Belt and One Road", Arab countries make natural and important partners in building the "One Belt and One Road". This initiative presents rare historic opportunities for the growth of China-Arab states relations.

The year 2014 is the first year since this initiative was proposed. At the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held last June, Chinese President Xi Jinping described in his opening address the "Belt and Road" initiative as one for mutual benefit. The centerpiece of China-Arab collaboration in building the "Belt and Road" is to establish the "1+2+3" cooperation framework. The "1" refers to energy cooperation as the mainstay. The "2" are infrastructure construction and trade and investment facilitation as the two wings. And the "3" refers to cooperation in the three high-tech fields of nuclear energy, aerospace and satellite, and new energy sources as the leading force. President Xi also proposed to raise China-Arab trade to 600 billion US dollars, increase China's non-financial investment stock in Arab countries to 60 billion dollars, and organize mutual visits between 10,000 Chinese and Arab artists all within the next ten years. He also announced that China will train 6,000 professionals from various fields for Arab countries in the next three years. All these demonstrate China's confidence and sincerity about deepening its relations with Arab countries. These initiatives will give strong support to the efforts of Arab countries in creating jobs, accelerating industrialization and boosting economic development. They are bound to open up broader space for China-Arab cooperation across the board.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lebanon is an important member of the Arab family. Having worked here for more than one and half years now, I have keenly felt the friendship of the Lebanese people toward the Chinese people, and I have seen the fruits of cooperation between our two countries in a wide range of fields. Politically, the two countries respect each other and treat each other with sincerity. We enjoy mutual understanding and support on issues that involve each other's core interests and major concerns. Economically, our trade topped 2.3 billion US dollars in 2013 and China became Lebanon's top trading partner. Bilateral trade continued to grow at above 15% in the first nine months of this year. China has continued to provide assistance to Lebanon for its economic and social development. Culturally, Lebanon is home to the first Confucius institute China has opened in the Arab region. More and more Lebanese friends have started to learn Mandarin and some are impressively fluent! I feel immensely encouraged by the robust momentum of China-Lebanon relations. China will continue to work with Lebanon to carry forward our traditional friendship, expand practical cooperation and raise this relationship to a new high.

"What Arab Economy Lies Ahead" - this is the theme of this year's annual conference. I, for one, have full confidence in the future of the Arab economy. The door of new opportunity has been opened for China-Arab cooperation. Let us join hands to seize this opportunity and usher in a brighter future for our relations.

I wish the conference full success.

Thank you.