On the morning of September 17, the opening ceremony of the Eighth Arab Seminar of CARC was held at the Songjiang Campus of SISU. This seminar is a training course for 18 officials from various departments of the Arab League.
Zha Mingjian, Vice President of SISU; Ahmed Mustafa, Director of the Arab League Conference and Headquarters Affairs Division; Li Chengwen, Ambassador of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Board Chairman of CARC attended the opening ceremony.
Vice President Zha Mingjian first gave a welcome speech. He reviewed the achievements of cooperation between the two sides in this field since the establishment of official contact with the Arab League in 1956, and pointed out that the Arab League will play an increasingly key leading role in resolving regional affairs. China will also continue to promote the overall development of relations with the Arab countries and collective cooperation with the Arab League. CARC has so far successfully held seven Arab officials Seminars and one China-Arab Political Party Seminar, which involved 220 Arab officials from Arab countries. CARC plays an increasingly prominent role in promoting exchanges and cooperation in the governance of country, the reform and development of China and Arab countries. He specifically mentioned that this year is the 70th anniversary of the establishment of SISU, he welcomed Arab friends to visit and know more about SISU. As the organizer of CARC, SISU will continue to promote the combination of foreign language talent training and the development needs of the new era, and make active efforts and due diligence for promoting cultural exchanges between China and other countries.
Director Ahmed expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Shanghai Municipal Government and SISU. He first mentioned that the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum launched in 2004 played an important role in promoting the development of China-Arab relations. Via various mechanisms of the forum, China and Arab countries reached more ideological consensus, including China’s firm support for the Arab issues, especially the Palestinian issue. He said that the Arab countries are full of enthusiasm for learning and publicizingChina's reform and development experience. He hoped that the two sides will learn from each other through the platform of Arab Officials Seminar and jointly promote the further development of China-Arab relations.
On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Li Chengwen welcomed the arrival of the participants and thanked SISU and CARC for their great efforts. Ambassador Li pointed out that China and the Arab countries are at the same stage of their respective developments and shoulder the common mission of realizing national rejuvenation and national prosperity. The world today is facing major changes in the past 100 years. Facing the unprecedented opportunities and challenges, it is of utmost importance to choose a development path which is in line with national conditions. China will continue to support the Arab countries in choosing their own development path and continue to uphold the just position on the Palestinian issue. The reform and development is the right choice for China and Arab countries to meet the challenges under the new situation. China is willing to fully discuss the ideas, methods and policies of reform and development with Arab friends and learn from each other. Ambassador Li said that this is the first time the center has received the visit of Arab League delegation. In such a real contact, the mutual understanding between China and Arab countries will be deeper, friendship will be consolidated and cooperation will be deepened.
The opening ceremony was hosted by Wang Guangda, Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Central Council.
During the ten-day training program, the participants will discuss with China's experts and scholars through professional lectures and listening dialogues on the basic experience of China's 40 years of reform and opening up, the new era of China's big country diplomacy, the China-Arab joint construction of the “Belt and Road” and Chinese enterprises’ experience in participating in offshore infrastructure projects. At the same time, the center arranged a variety of on-the-spot visits and study activities for the participants. It is hoped that the participants will personally experience the development achievements of China's reform and opening up and explore the path of China-Arab reform and development cooperation in practice.
In March 1945, under the initiative of Egypt, the League of Arab States was established. In 1956, China established formal ties with the Arab League; in 2004, the China-Arab Cooperation Forum was launched. Over the past 15 years, China and Arab countries have carried out fruitful cooperation in the fields of energy, economy, trade, infrastructure and high technology. At the opening ceremony of the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum in July last year, President Xi pointed out: As an important platform for China and Arab countries to conduct equal dialogue and strengthen pragmatic cooperation, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum is promising in promoting the strengthening of the docking between the two sides. Adapting to the development of China-Arab relations in the new era, the forum must have a new atmosphere and new actions. The 8th Arab League Officials Seminar happens on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the university. It is a combination of the development of the school and the development of the country's foreign relations in the new era, also the important events to make active efforts to promote cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries.