On December 8, 2009, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun met in the Foreign Ministry with a visiting Arab media delegation.

Zhai said China and Arab nations share profound traditional friendship. Recent years have witnessed frequent high-level visits, increasing political trust and ever closer pragmatic cooperation in all areas. Against the background that the international political and economic situation is undergoing profound changes, China is ready to work with the Arab side to further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, jointly meet challenges and continuously expand China-Arab friendly cooperative relations.

Zhai emphasized that to enhance bilateral press exchanges and cooperation is of great significance to pushing forward China-Arab ties. He welcomed more Arab media to come to China for reporting and to make more contributions to building mutual understanding and friendship.

The media delegation is composed of senior press officers and heads of mainstream media organizations from 14 Arab nations including Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Yemen and Comoros, as well as officials from the Secretariat of the League of Arab States (LAS). Besides Beijing, they will also visit Shanghai.