GCC secretary-general praises China for Middle East peace efforts

China's growing influence in Middle East peace initiatives is gaining recognition, with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi praising Beijing's role in facilitating the Saudi-Iran deal and stressing the need for collective action on regional issues, including the Palestinian conflict.

Speaking on Monday during the First China-GCC Forum on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Technology in Chengdu, the provincial capital of southwest China's Sichuan, Albudaiwi highlighted China's significant contributions to regional peace and cooperation.

"I must highly recommend the role China is playing in the international arena and especially in our region, in the Middle East. China played a wonderful role in normalizing the relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran in March 2023. China played a wonderful role. We totally appreciate China's policies and attitude towards many issues in the Middle East," Albudaiwi told China Global Television Network (CGTN).

As head of the Gulf organization, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Albudaiwi emphasized that resolving geopolitical tensions in the region requires urgent global attention.

"The geopolitical tension in the region needs global attention. There are many elements that needs to be addressed. It is the Palestinian-Israeli question that needs to be resolved immediately in order for us to look at the other issues," Albudaiwi added.

Albudaiwi also underscored the strong economic progress of GCC countries, noting their commitment to helping neighboring nations overcome challenges.

"The six GCC countries are prosperous, advanced, developed, and they have all strong economies. But unfortunately, some of our neighbors have major problems, and we are very much interested in helping these neighbors overcome their problems in order for the region to all prosper and live in peace," Albudaiwi said.

GCC secretary-general praises China for Middle East peace efforts

China is set to promote high-quality development of digital economy by making targeted efforts in key areas, said Liu Liehong, director of the National Data Administration, at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Liu said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the share of the value added of core industries in the digital economy in GDP rose from 7.8 percent in 2020 to over 10.5 percent in 2025, with an average compound annual growth rate of 12.8 percent, far exceeding the GDP growth rate over the same period.

"We will foster digital industrial clusters in a phased manner, leverage the data chain to drive deep integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains and talent chains, and advance the development of three types of digital industrial clusters -- those that drive innovation, that have become regional pillars, and that have regional characteristics. In cultivating and boosting the development of innovative enterprises in digital economy, we'll work with the National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments this year to choose a batch of enterprises that have strong innovation strength and great growth potential to cultivate them as the reserve force, offering them one-stop policy support in terms of computing power, data, scenarios and funding," said Liu.

Liu said that China will also promote city-wide digital transformation, accelerate digital empowerment to improve the quality and efficiency of manufacturing industry, and quicken up the fostering of high-value application scenarios in sectors of logistics, finance, healthcare, and elderly care.

China to promote high-quality development of digital economy