The year 2020 is a watershed in the course of human history. The sudden COVID-19 outbreak triggered a global crisis，pressing a pause button on international travel，returning the global economy to reverse gear，and giving rise to power politics and Cold War thinking. As unilateralism and protectionism rise，China’s foreign trade confronts many risks and challenges.

In recent years，China’s trade development risks and challenges have risen significantly. Outside China，trade friction between China and the US has been continuing. In China，the market drivers for its consumer demand increase in urban and rural areas are insufficient. As major changes unfold in our world，China has always been dedicated to upholding the fundamental state policy of opening up，building a global community with a shared future，and pursuing a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. With the implementation of measures for stabilizing foreign trade，China has introduced a set of policies to expand opening-up and promote the stable growth of foreign trade. China has been continuously optimizing its foreign trade structure and speeding up its transformation of growth drivers，and has achieved steady improvement in both quantity and quality of trading volume. In 2020，China’s foreign trade remained stable and even made progress.

In 2020，the situation in the Middle East was tumultuous. In order to divert attention away from their domestic COVID-19 outbreak conflicts and fill the strategic vacuum left by the US，some countries in the region started to compete for dominance of regional affairs and to expand their influence to increase their discourse power. Against this backdrop，the cards have been reshuffled in the Middle East，with the emergence of political camps，pluralism，fragmentation，and menu-driven cooperation. Meanwhile，in order to promote economic development，the Arab States have been taking a series of measures to expand their single economic model，promoting economic reform and diversified development to seek a path of transformation，and encouraging the private sector to play a greater role. Specifically，they have been implementing fiscal and tax incentives to attract foreign direct investments，increase infrastructure investments and financing，and optimize their business environment. These measures have contributed significantly to the economic development of the Arab States.

Additionally，the Arab States have been seeking more diversified foreign relations. For example，they have joined the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative，and have made fruitful progress in foreign investments and foreign trade. Despite the severe impacts of COVID-19 and the global economic downturn，China-Arab States cooperation has still been progressing steadily for mutual benefit. Through advancing high-quality Belt and Road development，the two sides have been working together to promote a global community with a shared future for mankind. China-Arab States cooperation has successively involved getting companies back to business，media sector，reform and development，and in-depth exchange of experience in governance. The two sides have been continuously enriching the development of China-Arab States cooperation.