CAIRO, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Assistant Secretary General Hossam Zaki has said China never sets political conditions for cooperating with Arab countries.
"There are economic and commercial conditions, but never political ones," the AL official told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Zaki said China is always helping the Arab countries, stressing that China is keen on strengthening its cooperation with the Arabs in all fields.
"We really are proud of our ties with China ... We also appreciate China's stances that support the Arabs' rights and issues," Zaki noted.
Such stances, Zaki said, make the Arabs enthusiastic about maintaining the highest level of cooperation with China.
Zaki's remarks came as the AL is preparing for the eighth ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) to be held on July 10 in Beijing.
"The CASCF is very important as it keeps the Arab countries and China on periodical contact," Zaki said. "The forum is the embodiment of Arab-Chinese cooperation in the economic, social and politic domains."
The CASCF was launched for the first time in 2004 and have held seven ministerial conferences and 14 sessions at the level of senior officials to deepen the long-standing Arab-Chinese friendship.
It was initiated in the opening years of the new millennium, after China-Arab friendship and cooperation witnessed a steady growth that led to its formal formation in 2004 by China and the AL, whose 22 members had already established diplomatic relations with China.
Since then, the forum has become a key mechanism for both China and the Arab world to improve their mutual understanding and cooperation in all fields.
The Arab official said the goal of the forum is to boost mutual economic gains as well as exchanging political views over issues of mutual interest.
"There are goals for the forum that can vary, but the principles are still the same," he stressed. "I believe the current mechanisms of the CASCF are quite appropriate to achieve our goals. We may improve these mechanisms if we have more ambitions to reach."
He said the Palestinian issue is always on the table of the CASCF, hailing the Chinese position that supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, Zaki said China has a lot of experience in the field of infrastructure, expressing hope that China would help the Arab countries build their unfinished infrastructure systems.
The AL official voiced hope that China will always be a close friend to the Arab countries and increase its economic cooperation with the Arab world through opening its markets to more Arab products.
"There are many high-quality Arab products and we hope China will import such goods for its consumers ... this will definitely be beneficial for both sides," Zaki said.
