An agreement signed on the final day of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum said that Beijing and the 22 Arab League members would begin holding meetings on oil issues as part of an expansion of ties, according to Xinhua news agency.

"The two sides attach importance to energy cooperation, particularly the cooperation in the sectors of oil, natural gas and renewable energy," said a document outlining the forum's plans for 2006 to 2008, Xinhua reported.

Mohammed Hussein al-Shaali, state minister for foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates and a co-chair of the forum, told reporters there was a common target to double bilateral trade to 100 billion dollars by 2010.

Trade between China and the 22 oil and gas-rich member states of the Arab League last year totalled 51.3 billion dollars.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, who also co-chaired the forum along with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, was even more optimistic about the pace of economic development with energy-hungry China.

"This represents just a beginning and we hope it can be even greater," Mussa said of current trade levels between the Arab world and China, adding he hoped volumes could double within two to three years.

During the first day of the forum on Wednesday, Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan urged Arab countries to expand energy cooperation with China.

China, the world's second largest energy consumer behind the United States, has already worked extremely hard in recent years to secure energy resources from the Arab world and the Middle East.

Fifty-eight per cent of China's oil imports currently come from the Middle East, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.