People select Pakistani brassware at the China-Arab States Expo 2015 in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sept 12, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

A report outlining China's policies towards Arab countries is important for improving the China-Arab relationship, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Thursday.

The government issued its first Arab Policy Paper a day earlier.

The paper looks back on the achievements of the China-Arab relationship over the past 60 years, and outlines the road map of China's cooperation with Arab countries in politics, economy and trade, social development, people-to-people exchanges and peace and security.

The paper is "significant" for the establishment of China-Arab strategic cooperative relations of "comprehensive cooperation and common development", Hong said.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of China-Arab relations. For the past six decades China and Arab countries have respected each other and treated each other equally, and their cooperation, which made "historic leaps" in various fields, has become "a leading example of South-South cooperation", Hong said.