China and Arab countries should step up "two-way" investment and create a sound environment for multilateral economic cooperation to capitalize on the high-return industries of services, finance and environmental improvement, said senior officials of Arab nations.

Abdullah Saleh, vice-minister of economy of the United Arab Emirates, said China's economic engine currently is being shifted from an investment-dominated economy to a consumption-based economy. This would offer Arab nations investment opportunities to China's service sectors such as logistics, tourism, healthcare, transportation and telecommunication.

The changing global economic map and the lingering debt crisis in the eurozone have caused big losses for government-backed Gulf financial institutions and their sovereign wealth funds in developed markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany in recent years. Many Arab countries are shifting their investment focus from the West to China and Africa.