On the afternoon of May 23, 2023, a delegation led by Saudi Vice Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereji and Saudi Ambassador to China Abdulrahman Alharbi visited Peking University (“PKU”). Dong Zhiyong, Vice President and General Affairs Officer of PKU, met with the guests at the Linhuxuan Central Hall.

Dong Zhiyong met with Elkhereji

Dong Zhiyong welcomed Elkhereji and his delegation to PKU. He introduced the exchange and communication between PKU and Saudi Arabia, looked back on the scene of His Majesty King Salman of Saudi Arabia visiting PKU and unveiling the Library Branch, and stated that against the big picture that the river of China-Saudi friendship has run a long course, PKU established the first Arabic major in the country and the two sides have developed a sound cooperative relationship. The Library Branch, in this way, represented the fruit of the friendly exchange between China and the Arab world. Dong Zhiyong also expressed the hope that the visit of Vice Minister Elkhereji would further strengthen the in-depth exchange between PKU and Saudi universities and institutions.

Elkhereji appreciated the warm reception of PKU and noted that the leaders of both countries attached great importance to education and talent development. Under active support, the relative cooperative projects between the two countries have achieved strategic results. He hoped that in the future there would be more Saudi young scholars and students to exchange and study at PKU, an academic hall with a long history, comprehensive disciplines and excellent faculty and students, which could help the two sides to explore new cooperation modes in talent development and capacity building.

A group photo

Fu Zhiming, Deputy Dean of School of Foreign Languages of PKU, Wu Bingbing, Director of Arabic Language Department, Liu Suqing, Deputy Head Librarian of PKU Library, and Zhou Jing, Deputy Director of Office of International Relations, accompanied the meeting.

After the meeting, Elkhereji and his delegation came to the Library Branch where they had a friendly conversation with the students from the Arabic Language Department of School of Foreign Languages of PKU, who were self-studying in the reading room. They asked the students about their study and the problems they encountered, and encouraged them to work hard on Arabic to contribute their bit to the China-Arab friendly exchanges.

A group photo of Elkhereji and the students from the Arabic Language Department

Subsequently, Elkhereji and his delegation visited the Saudi Arabia-China Calligraphy and Culture Exhibition at the Library Branch.

Elkhereji’s visit to the calligraphy exhibition

A group photo