On June 4th, a delegation consisting of former Prime Minister of Jordan Abdul Salam Majali, former Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf and other 6 members of Arab countries visited Peking University (PKU). Vice President of PKU Li Yansong met the guests at Linhuxuan, accompanied by Prof. Fu Zhiming, Director of Arabic Language Department of PKU, and Li Hongquan, Deputy Director of the Office of International Relations.

Vice President Li Yansong extended warm welcome for the guests and introduced educational and cultural exchanges between PKU and Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

Former Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf said that he was very happy to have this opportunity to communicate with Chinese university leaders and promote friendship between the two countries.  With different kinds of cultures merging and communicating in this changing world, he hoped that new China-Arab partnership would bring a better future for both sides.

Besides, former Prime Minister of Jordan Abdul Salam Majali noted that the friendly and humble quality of Chinese people brought high speed development of China, making China a political and economic power in the world. Since Arab countries and China are interdependent, both sides should make joint efforts to realize the idea of constructing maritime silk route proposed by President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Xi Jinping.

Vice President Li Yansong also introduced Beijing Forum, which is an academic event organized by PKU, and sincerely invited the guests to attend.

After the meeting, the delegation went to have a discussion with students and faculty of Arabic Language Department and then visited Peking University library.

Translated by He Yicheng