China-Arab States Keep Deepening Science & Technology Cooperation

By Audrey Guo

In recent years， the deepening of scientific and technological exchanges between China and Arab States has further raised the level of China-Arab cooperation and injected new vitality into the development， social progress and peoples well-being of both sides and countries along the Belt and Road.

Recently， at the fourth China-Arab States Technology Transfer and Innovation Cooperation Conference held in Ningxia， signed projects reached RMB 900 million， covering a total of 42 projects in the fields of clean energy， electronic information， cultural tourism， new materials and modern agriculture. The number of signed projects and the amount of agreements this year exceeded that of the previous years.

China attaches great importance to scientific and technological innovation exchanges with Arab countries

Wang Zhigang， Minister of Science and Technology of China， said in an online speech that the Ministry of Science and Technology attaches great importance to scientific and technological innovation exchanges and cooperation with Arab countries and actively promotes cooperation with Arab countries in fields like cultural & educational exchanges， joint research， technology transfer as well as science and technology parks.

In terms of scientific and cultural exchanges， the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has funded 250 Arab researchers to carry out short-term research in China through the Program for International Outstanding Young Scientists in China. China has trained 1，242 people from Arab countries through training programs for developing countries. In terms of cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship， China has jointly organized innovation and entrepreneurship personnel to participate in innovation exhibitions at home and abroad， actively encouraged exchanges and cooperation between Chinas high-tech zones and Arab countries counterparts and signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in science and technology parks with Egypt.

In 2015， the China-Arab Technology Transfer Center was established in Ningxia， bearing the national mission of promoting scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation between China and Arab countries. So far， the Technology Transfer Center has established bilateral technology transfer sub-centers with eight Arab countries，forming a technology transfer cooperation network linking nearly 5，000 Chinese and foreign members. At this years conference， the establishment of two new bilateral technology transfer centers were announced in Qatar and Nigeria.

“Ningxia is an important node of the Silk Road Economic Belt， shouldering the important mission of advancing China-Arab cooperation in science and technology and expanding China-Arab friendship，”said Wu Xiuzhang， Vice Chairman of the Peoples Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region， in a speech at the conference. In recent years， Ningxia has actively integrated in the construction of the Belt and Road and has successfully held China-Arab countries technology transfer and innovation cooperation conferences for three years， with strong support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and relying on the important platform of the China-Arab Expo. With the role of the China-Arab Technology Transfer Centerbrought into full play， Ningxia has integrated science and technology innovation elements and technical resources and set up collaboration network for technology transfer. Cooperation and exchanges are carried out in terms of water-saving technology as well as sand prevention and control technology， and around the data industry， application of Internet of things and green areas such as intelligent water saving， Ningxia has organized the implementation of a group of effective technology transfer projects. With technology transfer activities among enterprises increased year by year and more active venture capital， China-Arab cooperation of science and technology has become the important pillar for the development of the bilateral common prosperity.

Haifa Ab Ghazala， Assistant SecretaryGeneral for Social Affairs of the Arab League， said in her speech that the Secretariat of the Arab League expects the two sides to strengthen cooperation of technology transfer in nanotechnology， biotechnology， renewable energy， agriculture， food and medicine industries. In addition， the Secretariat is willing to learn from Chinas experience and hopes to have the opportunity to send Arab students， officials and technicians to China for training and further study and strives to provide scholarships for Arab students studying in the above-mentioned fields so as to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Arab States look forward to strengthening technical exchanges with China

In recent years， the China-Arab States Technology Transfer Center has tapped in to the development needs of China and the Arab States， organized activities such as technology transfer matchmaking meetings， China-Arab science and technology activities week and professional training to provide professional supporting services for Chi- nese and Arab enterprises and relevant institutions. A batch of scientific and technological cooperation platforms have been fostered in areas like date palm， the agricultural Internet of Things， green intelligent water-saving equipment， satellite data service， high yielding cultivation of potato and food development. Chinas advanced technology and equipment have successfully gone abroad， such aspects of prevention and control of data， agricultural Internet of Things， water saving technology and equipment as well as potato farming and standar dized cultivation.

Mohamed Abdullahi， State Minister of the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Science and Technology， said that in 2019 Nigeria established the Nigeria Working Base of the China-Arab States Technology Transfer Collaboration Network with the support of the China-Arab States Technology Transfer Center. Since its establishment， the Base has actively tapped Nigerias demand for science and technology and effectively connected with Chinas technology supply， laying a good foundation for deepening bilateral cooperation. Nigeria hopes that through effective cooperation with the China-Arab Technology Transfer Center， new contributions will be made in terms of the introduction of appropriate technology transfer and the transformation and acceleration of Nigerias scientific， technological and economic development.

According to Dr. Nabil Haidar， Director of the China-Arab States （Dubai） Technology Transfer Center， cooperation between the two sides in the field of advanced agricultural technologies has achieved remarkable results. In addition， they are working with companies and institutions in modern irrigation systems and advanced applications to remotely monitor and track agricultural production through Internet of Things technology； cooperation has been carried out with professional Chinese enterprises to launch products in the field of soil improvement and introduce some advanced technology enterprises to the local market.

“Were looking forward to continuing this partnership in the future and expanding cooperation between Chinas leading technology companies and our local companies in various technology and business sectors，”said Dr. Haidar.

The Chairman of the Jordanian Farmers Union， Mr. Oder， was deeply impressed by the scientific and technological cooperation between China and Arab countries. He said， “the training， seminars， forums and conferences organized by China have benefited Jordanian farmers. After learning， they transferred some of their ideas to the field. A colleague in our agricultural department who specializes in potato cultivation also participated in the training and gained a lot.”He also hopes that training courses on non-traditional plant-ing， modern planting and advanced planting could be organized， China could offer help in the field of agricultural services and planting services， and that scientific research on planting varieties suitable for Jordans water shortage could be carried out.

In addition， ten major technological achievements， which are suitable for promotion and put into use involving information technology， modern agriculture， intelligent manufacturing and ecological environmental protection， were released at the conference， including the index knowledge service application system of the countries along the Belt and Road.

China and Arab countries look forward to deepening cooperation in various fields

In addition to the promotion and implementation of Chinese agricultural technologies in Arab countries， Arab countries also look forward to technical cooperation in more fields with China.

Hisham Faina， technology officer of the Morocco MAScIR foundation， said that the MAScIR foundation would like to carry out extensive cooperation together with Chinas scientific research institutions and science & technology enterprises in such fields as new energy， biotechnology and micro electronics. With the form of joint laboratories and joint implementation of technology transfer and transformation projects， cooperation between the two sides is to be promoted to develop in a pragmatic direction. They hope to establish more extensive cooperative partnerships with more Chinese research institutions and enterprises through the important platform like the China-Arab States Expo.

“Chinas experience in water control should serve the innovative development of the Belt and Road Initiative，” said Wang Hao， Academic of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and hydrology and water resources scientist. Different regions of the Belt and Road have different water issues. With similar development phase and conditions， China boasts sophisticated water management and capabilities as well as security experience highly consistent with that of thecountries along the Belt and Road； in the meantime， China possesses sufficient funds， full water resources utilization technology and equipment as well as strong infrastructure capacity， which may enhance water control capacities of countries along the Belt and Road. Strengthening cooperation and exchanges in terms of water resources and irrigation is of great significance.

Nashwa Bandari， Director of the ChinaArab （Shipping College of Arab League） Technology Transfer Center， looks forward to continuous deepening of cooperation between the two sides and to expanding technology transfer and innovative cooperation content to such fields as intelligent electronics and robotics， artificial intelligence， new energy and renewable energy， which will help to usher in a new phase for China-Arab cooperation in scientific and technological innovation.

Optimizing the legal and policy environ- ment of scientific and technological innovation is the key factor to enhance the level of scientific and technological innovation cooperation with foreign countries. Many well-known lawyers and scholars believe that they should strengthen cooperation in technology transfer and innovation with foreign countries on the premise of compliance with the law and controllable risks.

Wu Ge， Director of Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm， believes that although a well-structured legal policy system for scientific and technological innovation has been established， it is still obviously inadequate in comprehensiveness and accuracy. In particular， due to the inherent advance and neutrality of scientific and technological innovation， the criminal legal environment and criminal justice policies related to scientific and technological innovation need to be optimized， relevant legal provisions have lagged behind the rapid development of scientific and technological innovation， and the relevant fields obviously lack unified and standardized judicial standards.

Under the Belt and Road Initiative， cooperation is carried out among many countries with complicated legal systems and various business environments. Li Duo， partner of Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm （Yinchuan） suggested that different countries and regions may realize the diversity of legal cooperation modes of the Belt and Road by four approaches of “keeping local system characteristics”， “coordinating the existing cooperationcontent”， “establishing a specialized cooperation framework” and “following the bilateral and multilateral system”， which will promote the construction of a diversified dispute settlement mechanism.