Ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｔｒａｉｎｉｎｇ Ｃｏｕｒｓｅ ｆｏｒ Ｌｅａｄｉｎｇ Ｍｅｍｂｅｒｓ ｏｆ Ａｒａｂ Ｃｏｕｎｔｒｉｅｓ’ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ－ｗｉｔｈ－Ｃｈｉｎａ Ｏｒｇａｎｉｚａｔｉｏｎｓ Ｈｅｌ

From May 21 to 30， a training course for leading members of the Arab countries’ friendship-with-China organizations jointly sponsored by the CPAFFC and the China-Arab Friendship Association (CAFA) was held in Beijing. This was the first training course ever held by the CPAFFC for leading members of a group of friendship-with-China organizations of foreign countries， and of the 22 Arab countries in particular.

On May 21， the opening ceremony of the training course was held in the CPAFFC. Tomur Dawamat president of the CAFA， Chen Haosu， president of the CPAFFC， Mhd Kheir Al-Wadi，dean of the diplomatic corps of Arab countries and Syrian ambassador to China， Mohamed El-Hassan Shabbo， head of the Beijing Office of the Arab League， attended the ceremony and spoke on the occasion. Leading officials of the Office in charge of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum and counsellors of the Department of Asian and African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry， council members of the China-Arab Friendship Association in Beijing and diplomatic envoys of Arab countries to China， totaling over 70 people， attended the opening ceremony and the reception.

This training course is one of the activities within the framework of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum and the follow-up action of the First China-Arab Friendship Conference held in Khartoum of the Sudan in December 2006. Twenty two leading members or representatives of the friendship-with-China organizations of 18 Arab countries attended it class. Most of them were secretaries general of the friendship-with-China organizations. There also were presidents and vice presidents of 4 such organizations as well as diplomats of some Arab countries’ embassies in China. Among the participants， there was a former minister， an incumbent leader of the parliament， a high official of foreign ministry， a member of the central committee of the ruling party， a secretary of the provincial committee of the ruling party， as well as a senior professor， a member of the municipal council， a mayor and an entrepreneur.

At the class， some experts gave reports on Sino-Arab relations， the China-Arab Cooperation Forum， China’s political system， economic reform， and Middle East policy， and China-Arab economic and trade relations. In its report entitled “Reflection and Exploration—How Do the Friendship-with-China Organizations of the Arab Countries Carry Out People-to-People Friendly Exchanges with China?”， the CPAFFC put forward practical suggestions and ideas on cooperation with the Arab countries’ friendship-with-China organizations of different types based on the experience and successful examples achieved by the CPAFFC in the past 53 years since its founding and by the CAFA in the past 6 years since its establishment. The trainees gave warm response to these reports and had thorough discussions on the above topics. They also visited Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Zhai Jun， assistant foreign minister， Liang Pingbo， executive vice chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries， and Song Yiqiao， vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference， respectively met with all the trainees.

Leading members of the Arab countries’ friendship-with-China organizations said that it was very necessary for the Chinese side to hold such a course which was a great success. The trainees， though coming from different countries and different social circles and standing， all gained a lot from it. Through 10-day studying， they not only systematically learned about China’s national conditions and foreign policy， but also learned a lot of experience from China in carrying out people-to-people friendly exchanges with other countries， which could help them greatly in their future people-to-people friendly exchanges with China.