The Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will have gone global by around 2020. The first forum on Beidou cooperation between China and Arab countries was held in 2017 in Shanghai. In April 2018, the China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center was officially inaugurated in Tunisia, and in the first half of 2019 Tunisia will host the 2nd forum on “belt-and-road” China-Arab cooperation.
CAS news release, November 9, 2018
China will serve communication and trade in the Arab world with its Beidou satellite system