On April 16, 2019, the Second China-Arab Reform and Development Forum was held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Shanghai International Studies University(SISU), conducted by the China-Arab Research Center on Reform and Development(CARC). The theme of this forum was “Building a ‘Belt and Road’, Sharing Development and Prosperity.” Chen Xiaodong, Assistant Foreign Minister; Yang Fuchang, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; Gu Jinshan, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal Government; Jiang Feng, Party Secretary of SISU; Li Yansong, President of SISU; Michel Suleiman, former Lebanese President; Dileta Muhammad, former Djibouti Prime Minister; Mohamed Fahmi, former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs; Khalil, Assistant Secretary-General of Arab League. More than 140 Chinese and foreign representatives attended the meeting, including some Arab Ambassadors to China, Arab League representatives in China, Chinese and Arab officials, experts and scholars, media delegations. Li Chengwen, the Ambassador of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the President of council of CARC, presided over the opening ceremony.
Chen Xiaodong, Assistant Foreign Minister, said in his keynote speech that under the direct concern and strong leadership of President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the Arab countries, China and Arab countries have focused on building the “Belt and Road”, the strategic mutual trust and policy coordination have reached new heights. The cooperation has made new progress. The people's livelihood and mutual benefit have gained new results, mutual understanding and tolerance have set a new paradigm, the strategic partnership between China and Arab countries has been deepened, and Sino-Arab cooperation and humanities exchanges have been promoted, providing important support for their respective reform and development process. The two sides should continue to strengthen strategic and action docking; increase mutual openness; create an engine of innovative growth; deepen exchanges and cooperation in the field of governance, continuously enrich the content of strategic partnerships between the two sides, and work together on the path of reform and development.
Suleiman, Former Lebanese President, believed that China has become one of the most important economies in the world. Under the background of geopolitical development and the rapid development of the fourth industrial revolution, which is represented by the digital revolution, the Sino-Arab relationship has been upgraded to the level of strategic partners. It is imperative for China and Arab countries to cooperate in the implementation of the 1+2+3 cooperation framework, achieving mutual benefit and common development. The Arab countries are willing to learn from China's advanced experience in the field of reform and development for the benefit of their own people.
Mohamed Nabil Ismail Fahmy, Former Egyptian Foreign Minister, expressed his gratitude to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CARC for hosting this forum in his speech. He believed that the international community should be a multi-polar and multilateral system in the 21st century. All countries need changes and improvement. China and Arab countries should jointly uphold the concept of mutual benefit and win-win result in order to enter a new era with a more balanced concept of international order. Under the wave of globalization, all countries should enhance exchanges with each other so as to achieve common goals.
Jiang Feng, Secretary of SISU, said in his speech that since the establishment of the university in the past 70 years, it has been concentrating on cultivating multilingual + inter-disciplinary talents, striving to become a pioneer in the reform of foreign language colleges, and promoting the cultivation of foreign language talents and the development of the new era. As the organizer of CARC, SISU provides a solid foundation for the growth and development of the center, based on the Arabic major of national key disciplines and high-level regional research in the Arab world. It is expected that the two sides will strengthen exchanges between reform and opening up, governance of the country through this forum, and reach more consensus on the realization of Sino-Arab common development.
Khalil, Arab League Assistant Secretary-General delivered a speech on behalf of the Arab League. He stressed that China and Arab countries have opened diplomatic relations for more than 60 years, bilateral and multilateral relations have achieved leap-forward development, which stems from the mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win concept of both sides. Since the establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in the past 15 years, the establishment of cooperation mechanisms in various fields such as politics, economy, culture and news development has fully demonstrated that the Forum is pragmatic and successful in strengthening communication and cooperation between the two sides in political, economic and social fields. The establishment of the CARC is another effective platform for enhancing exchanges between China and Arab countries. The Arab League has organized delegations to participate in relevant activities of the Center. We have traveled thousands of miles to China just to gain new ideas and inspirations from ancient civilizations and cultural exchanges, to achieve development and progress through mutual learning of civilizations. We hope to promote the development of bilateral relations through the ‘Belt and Road' initiative.
Gu Jinshan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government, said that Shanghai is the pioneer of reform and opening up in the new era, the pioneer of innovation and development, and plays a role as a bridgehead for serving the country's “Belt and Road” construction. The Arab countries have always been an important target for Shanghai's development of foreign exchanges and cooperation. Arab friends are welcomed to participate in the second China International Import Expo to be held in Shanghai in November this year. CARC has been listed as a special stage for the construction of a think tank for the “Belt and Road” in Shanghai. The Shanghai Municipal Government will continue to provide support for the center to become bigger and stronger, and make a positive contribution to promote the exchanges and deepening of China-Arab cultural exchanges.
Former politicians, government officials, diplomatic envoys, experts and scholars from more than 10 Arab countries including China, Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia held a deep discussion on three topics Policy Communication: Promoting China-Arab Development Strategy Docking”, ”Deepening Cooperation: China-Arab relations development Driven by ‘Belt and Road' and “Think Tank Exchanges: Providing Intellectual Support for the Joint Construction of the ‘Belt and Road’. Yang Fuchang, Former Vice Foreign Minister; Yang Jiemian, Director of the Academic Committee of the Shanghai Institute of International Studies; Zhu Weilie, Director of the Experts Committee of CARC; Yang Li, Vice President of SISU; Ding Long,Vice President of School of Foreign Languages of University of International Business and Economics; Ma Xiaolin from Arab College of Beijing Foreign Studies University; Fahmi, former Egyptian Foreign Minister; Khalil, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League; Yahya, Director General of the Economic Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman; Abdul Aziz, Dean of the Diplomatic Academy of Qatar; Anwar, General Coordinator of the University of Kuwait; Mansour, editor-in-chief of Egypt’s journal “Pyramid”; Farah, director of Iraqi Wisdom Palace economic research department; Saeed, President of the UAE Research Institute for Global Security and Defense; Rade, Deputy Director of the Saudi International Strategic Partnership Center; Ghazi, Director of the Mediterranean Innovation Center in Tunisia; Kayed, Deputy Secretary General of the Jordan Arab Forum for Thought, made speeches on relevant topics. Li Chengwen, the Ambassador of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum; Qi Zhenhong, President of the China Institute of International Studies, and Yang Guang, President of the China Middle East Society, presided respectively over the three discussions of the forum.
After the closing ceremony, Li Yansong, President of SISU and Director of the CARC, met with the guests. He expressed his sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the Arab friends from a far distance, Chinese experts and scholars, as well as the staff of the center, the volunteers, the teachers and students from the Arab language department, for their great support to the forum. CARC is an important platform for China and Arab countries to exchange experiences on reform and development, the governance of country. It is hoped that the participants will continue to support and exchange views on China-Arab cooperation and the path of reform and development, make active efforts and contributions to promote the Belt and Road” initiative and build a community of destiny between China and Arab countries.
On the evening of the 15th, Xu Kunlin, Deputy Mayor of Shanghai, met with important foreign guests such as former Lebanese President Suleiman and Djibouti Prime Minister Dileta. Assistant Minister Chen Xiaodong, Ambassador Li Chengwen, Secretary of SISU Jiang Feng, President of SISU Li Yansong, Executive Director of CARC Wang Guangda. They exchanged views on China-Arab exchanges and cooperation, the construction and development of the center.
On the 17th, Li Chengwen, the Ambassador of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Wang Guangda, the Executive Director of the CARC, accompanied foreign guests such as Djibouti Prime Minister Dileta and Assistant Secretary-General Khalil of the Arab League visited China Commercial Aircraft Corporation, Lujiazui Financial District, and went to Tongxiang to visit Zhejiang Jushi Group. From the 18th to the 19th, the delegation visited the Hikvision Hangzhou Headquarters and the China Silk Museum to understand in detail the development of China's coastal cities through the appearance of the city and the construction of enterprises.
The China-Arab Reform and Development Forum was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted by CARC. The forum invited political, academic and business representatives from both sides to exchange and discuss China-Arab cooperation, reform and development. The first forum was held in Beijing on April 23, 2018. The successful convening of the second forum further highlights the importance of this platform for China-Arab cooperation in strengthening the governance of the country and promoting the strategic integration of China-Arab development. Official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Daily, People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency (China, Asia, Japan and Multilingual Report), China Net, CCTV, Chinese Social Science Journal, Xinmin Evening News, Dongfang Net, Yan News, CNN, Middle East (Egypt) , Constitutional News (Egypt), Today's News (Egypt), News (Egypt), Charter (Jordan), Torch (Kuwait), Sunrise Network (Egypt), Libya News Network, Chinese Network in the eyes of Arabs ( More than 40 domestic and foreign media, including Lebanese), Saudi News Agency, Arab Network (Saudi Arabia), former Lebanese President Suleiman’s personal website, Namibia News Agency, World News Network (USA) and New Arab Network (UK). The forum will feature special reports or news reprints. During the forum, President Li Yansong accepted an interview with CCTV reporters.
