On the morning of March 16, 2023, a delegation led by Saudi Ambassador to China Abdulrahman Alharbi and Cultural Counselor Ahmed Alzahrani visited Peking University (“PKU”). Gong Qihuang, President of PKU, and Sun Qingwei, Vice President and Secretary General, met with the guests at the Yingjie Exchange Center.

Gong Qihuang met with Ambassador Alharbi

Gong Qihuang welcomed Ambassador Alharbi and his delegation to PKU and introduced the basic information of PKU and King Abdulaziz Public Library Branch in Peking University (“Library Branch”). He pointed out that the Library Branch is an achievement brought by the friendship between China and Saudi Arabia that provides rich resources for Chinese scholars and students and helps enhance the teaching and research of Arabic language and the Middle East studies in China. Gong Qihuang stated that PKU would embrace an “International Strategic Year” in 2023, and he hoped that under such a background, the friendly exchanges  between PKU and Saudi universities and institutions would be strengthened, and the opening up of high-level education to the outside world be promoted, thus contributing more to building a community with a shared future for mankind and reinforcing the mutual understanding among people in different countries.

Sun Qingwei shared the PKU delegation’s visit to Saudi Arabia in February of this year, and stated that the delegation’s visits to Saudi universities and institutions such as King Abdulaziz Public Library and King Saud University provided a broad space for future cooperation between the two sides.

Alharbi noted that the Library Branch located at PKU is a witness to the friendly exchanges between the two countries. He expressed gratitude to the leadership and functional departments of PKU for their tremendous efforts in prompting this project. In the future, the Library Branch would serve as a framework based on which we can expand our cooperation and exchanges in humanities, education and other fields. The Saudi embassy would be willing to provide strong support in Saudi-China cultural exchanges, talent development, teacher-student communication and other areas, and in such a way enhancing the in-depth cooperation between Saudi top universities and PKU and contributing to the friendship of the two countries.

A group photo taken after the meeting

After the meeting, the ambassador and his delegation visited the Library Branch where they had exchanges with students from the Arabic Language Department of the School of Foreign Languages of PKU.

They were accompanied by Zheng Qingwen, Secretary of the Party Committee of PKU Library and Director of the Library Branch, Fu Zhiming, Deputy Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, Chen Zheng, Deputy Dean of the School of Engineering, Wu Bingbing, Director of the Arabic Language Department of the School of Foreign Languages, Li Yun, Director of the Office of International Relations, and Zheng Ruqing, Deputy Director of the Office of International Relations.

Source: https://news.pku.edu.cn/xwzh/b0b9089221da43109fda479555976fb0.htm