Abu Dhabi hosted the Fifth Arab-China Political Strategic Dialogue and the 16th meeting of senior officials of the Arab-China Cooperation Forum.
The meeting was chaired by Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Political Affairs, and Wang Di, Director-General, Department of West Asian and North African Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was attended by Khalid Al Habbas, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League for International Political Affairs, Nie Jian, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the UAE, along with representatives and ambassadors of Arab countries.
The dialogue, which discussed a range of topics listed on its agenda, including the Palestinian cause, the peace process in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis, the region’s counter-terrorism efforts and the situation in Yemen, began with brief speeches by Al Marar and Wang, as well as speeches and interventions by representatives of Arab countries.
An Arab coordination meeting was also held yesterday, followed by a tri-lateral coordination meeting that involved the Arab delegation, headed by the UAE, and the Chinese delegation, as well as the General Secretariat.
The forum, the first for cooperation between Arab countries and China, was established on 30th January, 2004, during the visit of Hu Jintao, Former Chinese President, to the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo. Amr Moussa, Former Secretary-General of the Arab League, and Li Zhaoxing, Former Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced the establishment of the forum during a joint statement.
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