BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- China will initiate 11 training programs in Arab countries this year to help cultivate local experts in various fields, sources close to the China-Arab Cooperation Forum said Tuesday.

    The sources said that China carried out similar programs last year participated by over 2,000 Arabian people, and they all proved quite successful.

    This year's training programs will cover themes of economy, energy, communications and environmental protection, and they are part of a human resource cooperation project.

    The sources said that the training will be undertaken by Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

    China and Arab countries will reach an agreement on human resources cooperation from 2006 to 2008 at the foreign ministers' meeting of China-Arab Cooperation Forum to be held in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.

    China started in 2005 to run a series of programs tailored for the Arabs, which has trained 2,620 people. Enditem