More than 100 participants attended the party to extend to one another greetings on the occasion of the upcoming Spring Festival,or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

They discussed such issues as the challenges and opportunities that Chinese enterprises are facing following the country's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), how Chinese enterprises should tap world markets and how overseas companies can successfully invest and trade in China.

Dr. Mahamed A. El Saket, ambassador of the League of Arab States, said China's WTO entry will benefit both China and the Arab countries in the areas of economic and trade cooperation. "Itis expected that the trade between China and the Arab countries will be doubled in the next few years," he said.

The league, which has 22 members, is China's seventh largest trade partner.

Karim Ebrahim Al-Shakar, ambassador of Bahrain, said he would help promote investment in China by big Arab companies from the Gulf states.

Rudy Widjaja, executive chairman of the World Organization of Overseas Chinese, said overseas Chinese entrepreneurs are eager for closer ties with the motherland, and hope to increase investment and do more business here.

The party aimed at providing a chance to Chinese and overseas entrepreneurs to get to know more about each other, and increasingeconomic and trade opportunities, according to Zhou Xugeng, chairman and president of A&C International Group Corp., one of the sponsors of the party.

( Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2002)