On June 18, 2019, the 16th Senior Officials' Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) and the 5th Senior Official Level Strategic Political Dialogue of the CASCF were held in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese Secretary General of the CASCF and Director-General of the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs Wang Di and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Political Affairs Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar of the UAE. H.E. Ni Jian, Chinese Ambassador to the UAE, Ambassador for China-Arab States Cooperation Forum Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Li Chengwen, Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Al-Habbas of the League of Arab States (LAS), Head of the delegation of the envoys of Arab countries in China and Omani Ambassador to China Abdullah Saleh Al Saadi and others were present. More than 120 people attended the meeting, including representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the State Council Information Office, China International Development Cooperation Agency, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and China Satellite Navigation Office, as well as principal officials from the foreign ministries of 21 Arab states and the LAS Secretariat.

The senior officials' meeting summarized the implementation progress of the outcomes of the 8th CASCF Ministerial Meeting, assessed the implementation of the Action Plan for 2018-2020, discussed a work plan for the next stage, and exchanged views on the preparations for the 9th CASCF Ministerial Meeting to be held in Jordan in 2020. The meeting adopted an outcome document.

On the same day, both sides also held the 5th Senior Official Level Strategic Political Dialogue of the CASCF, exchanging in-depth views on major international and regional issues of common concern.

In his speech, Wang Di spoke positively of the results of development of China-Arab states relations, the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative by China and the Arab states and the CASCF construction, and appreciated the Arab states for firmly supporting the Chinese side's stance on Xinjiang-related issues. Wang Di said that the Chinese side is willing to, together with the Arab states, enhance coordination, jointly oppose terrorism and extremism, strengthen dialogue and exchanges among civilizations, object unilateralism and bullying together, safeguard multilateralism and the multilateral trading system, and build an open world economy. The Arab side said that the Arab states attach great importance to developing relations with China, and stand ready to make joint efforts with the Chinese side within the CASCF framework to promote the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, strengthen cooperation on counter-terrorism and deradicalization, support multilateralism and boost dialogues among different civilizations.

On the sidelines of the meetings, Wang Di also met respectively with Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Political Affairs Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar of the UAE and LAS Assistant Secretary-General Khalid Al Habas.