More media links should be formed to deepen cooperation between China and Arab states, said officials and experts at the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum that concluded Friday. The Arab world “needs to know more about China,” said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the two-day meeting that began Thursday. Moussa underlined the importance of developing cultural relations between Arab countries and China, saying “cultural cooperation could help both sides better understand each other.” “The symposium came as a part of the Chinese-Arab Forum's 2008-2010 executive program, which signaled the rapid growth of the media cooperation between the two sides,” said Wang Chen, director of China's State Council Information Office, at the symposium. Wang also said he hoped Chinese and Arabic media organizations could conduct strategic cooperation to increase political mutual trust and help boost trade between the two sides. Bahrain's Culture and Information Minister Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa said media could contribute to promoting friendship ties and cooperation between the two sides in the political, economic, trade, cultural, educational and technical domains. The symposium reviewed the most up-to-date technologies used in media broadcasting, and shed light on the importance of free information exchange and media freedom, according to the participants. The symposium's program also included a workshop to discuss ways for implementing Chinese-Arab cooperation toward exchange of news, information and documents, especially after China's launch of an Arabic-speaking satellite TV channel. Mouldi M'Barek, chief editor of La Presse de Tunisie, a French-language daily newspaper published in Tunisia, suggested the establishment of more journalist exchange programs.
