Spotlight: China, Arab states eye closer cooperation on satellite navigation to build "Space Silk Road"

Nada Nour Laabidi, a narrator at the China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center, displays a model of the first satellite of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, April 1, 2019. Chinese and Arab officials and experts on Monday envisioned building a "Space Silk Road" through closer cooperation on wider application of China's indigenously made BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) in the Middle East. The BDS, which went into trial operation in 2011 and started global service in later 2018, is a navigation satellite system independently developed by China. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)