4 Arab leaders to attend China-Arab forum in Beijing

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Four Arab leaders will pay state visits to Beijing to attend China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, an official statement said Monday.

China’s Foreign Ministry said Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Tunisian President Kais Saied, and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will attend the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum.

The leaders will arrive in Beijing from Tuesday and stay until Saturday.

The forum will be held on Thursday which will also be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Mauritanian counterpart Mohamed Salem Ould Merzouk will co-chair the conference.

Foreign ministers or representatives of the Arab states and secretary-general of the League of Arab States will attend the conference, said the ministry.

Founded in 2004, the forum serves as a formal dialogue initiative between China and the Arab League to discuss primary multilateral coordination mechanism between the world's second largest economy and the Arab states.