A visiting Chinese official said in Damascus on Sunday China hopes the Arab summit in Damascus could further boost cooperation between China and Arab countries.

"We hope that the Arab summit in Damascus could further promote the traditional and friendly cooperation between China and Arab countries," Sun Bigan, China's Special Envoy on the Middle East, told Xinhua in an interview.

Sun, who came to attend the 20th Arab summit here as a representative to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, noted that it was the first time that China sent a representative of the foreign minister to participate in the Arab summit.

"Such a move reflects the fact that China values its relations with the Arab countries," mentioned Sun, who arrived here on Wednesday for a six-day visit.

The Arab summit offers a platform for Arab countries to discuss and resolve major issues in various political, economic, reform and development fields in the region, and it attaches increasing importance to cooperation with countries outside the region and international and regional organizations, Sun introduced.

"What is cheerful to us is that the rapid development of Sino- Arab cooperation in various domains has attracted great attention of the Arab leaders," continued Sun.

Sun said he has conducted extensive contacts with Syrian, Palestinian, Iraqi, and Algerian foreign ministers and senior officials of the Arab League (AL) during his stay in Damascus.

AL chief Amr Moussa briefed Arab foreign ministers on the developments of the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum at their preparatory meeting for the summit on Thursday, Sun said.

It was learnt that the summit would adopt a resolution on Sino- Arab cooperation to affirm important activities carried out by the Forum since last year and reiterate the resolve of AL members to develop their relations with China, added the envoy.

Meanwhile, the Chinese official indicated that situation in the Middle East affects stability and development in the world as a whole, referring to the turbulences and the ever-changing complicated issues in the region.

China believes that Arab countries should iron out their differences through dialogue and negotiation, take care of each other's concerns and interests and give full play to the leading role of the United Nations, Sun said, hoping that the AL and other regional organizations could also be active players in Mideast affairs.

On the low turnout of this summit, Sun noted that previous Arab summits did not witness the full participation of all Arab leaders for various reasons.

Solidarity and mutual trust among Arab countries constitute a basis for them to effectively face the challenges both internally and internationally, Sun stated.

China hopes that the Damascus summit could eliminate disturbances and achieve more consensus and resolutions in the interest of the Arab people, Sun concluded.

The two-day 20th Arab summit ended here on Sunday with a declaration on a series of key Arab issues read out by Moussa.

Eleven heads of states in the 22-member pan-Arab bloc attended the event, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Leaders of pro-western Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan did not show up here for the summit, only sending low-level delegations in a snub to Damascus over its alleged role of blocking the presidential election in Lebanon, accusations denied by Syria. Lebanon also boycotted the summit, sending no one in Damascus.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2008)