PRESIDENT Xi Jinping returned to Beijing yesterday after his visit to the Middle East and Africa.

During his 11-day trip, Xi paid state visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Senegal, Rwanda and South Africa, and a friendly visit to Mauritius during a stopover. He also attended the 10th BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

The visit opened new prospects for the South-South cooperation and promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Xi’s visit to the UAE brought bilateral ties to a higher level and gave a demonstration for cooperation between China and Arab countries, Wang said. During the visit, the two countries issued a joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership, and signed a memorandum of understanding on implementing the Belt and Road Initiative.

China and the UAE will accelerate the establishment of the first Belt and Road international exchange in Abu Dhabi, which will provide financial services to the construction of Belt and Road in the Middle East and the Gulf region.

Xi has attached great importance to China-Africa relations. He chose Africa as the destination of his first foreign visit following both his election as Chinese president in 2013 and his re-election this year. During his African tour, Xi emphasized that it is China’s long-term and firm strategic choice to develop ties with African countries.

During his visit to South Africa, Xi attended the 10th BRICS summit in Johannesburg, which opened up the second “Golden Decade” for BRICS cooperation.

The summit of the bloc of emerging market economies from Wednesday to Friday gathered leaders from its members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — to discuss ways to seek common development and prosperity amid new global challenges.

While addressing the BRICS Business Forum at the summit, Xi said that the next decade will be a crucial one in which new global growth drivers will take the place of old ones, seeing faster changes in the international landscape and the international alignment of forces, and witnessing a profound reshaping of the global governance system.

Xi also called for building an open economy, rejecting unilateralism and protectionism, boosting international exchanges and cooperation in innovation, easing the impact of application of information technology, automation and smart technology on traditional industries, as well as pursuing inclusive growth to deliver benefits to people of all countries and promoting international development and cooperation.

“A trade war should be rejected, because there will be no winner. Economic hegemony is even more objectionable, as it will undermine the collective interests of the international community; those who pursue this course will only end up hurting themselves,” Xi said, in response to the rising unilateralism and trade protectionism.

The BRICS summit also invited other developing countries including other emerging market economies and African nations to participate in the “BRICS Plus” dialogue, further expanding the BRICS circles and strengthening the partnership between the BRICS and African countries, Wang added.   (Xinhua)