On November 17, the 11th China-Arab States Civilizations Dialogue, co-organized by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC) and the Secretariat of the League of Arab States, was held in Beijing. The theme of the event focused on strengthening civilization dialogue to build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era. Liu Haixing, Minister of the IDCPC, as well as Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Mahmoud al-Aloul, Deputy Chief of Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Jamal Mohamed Fakhro, First Deputy Chairman of the Bahraini Shura Council, Zaina Idhali, Deputy Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives, and Abdullah Mohammed Abu Al-Ghaith, Vice Chairman of Yemen’s Shura Council, attended the opening ceremony. The dialogue brought together about 150 representatives from 22 Arab countries, spanning political parties and organizations, parliaments, governments, think tanks, and media, alongside delegates from Chinese ministries and commissions, sub-national authorities, universities, and think tanks.

Bai Yuzhen, Director-General of the Ningxia Foreign Affairs Office, was invited to attend and delivered a speech during the parallel session on the Belt and Road Initiative and people-to-people bond between China and Arab states. She shared Ningxia’s achievements in pursuing high-quality BRI cooperation and its practices in fostering people-to-people connectivity between China and Arab states by highlighting “one expo”, the China-Arab States Expo as a key platform for BRI cooperation; “one TV series”, the TV series “Minning Town” that tells China’s poverty alleviation story; and “a group of people”, bridge-builders including an Iraqi journalist who studied long-term in Ningxia and Chinese experts assisting Mauritania. Bai expressed Ningxia’s willingness to build consensus and synergy with all parties to expand the “circle of friends” for win-win cooperation, jointly write new chapters of China-Arab people-to-people friendship and shared prosperity, and collaboratively advance the BRI toward higher-quality and higher-standard development.

Bai’s remarks drew active attention and positive responses from Arab participants. El Houssine Moufti, Vice Mayor of Kenitra and representative of the Morocco-China Friendship Exchange Association, stated that Ningxia’s development practices were inspiring and expressed willingness to promote international friendship relations and enhance cooperation. Waref Kumayha, President of the Silk Road Institute for Studies and Research in Lebanon, who has long researched Chinese affairs and published multiple works, showed keen interest in Ningxia’s stories and hoped to visit Ningxia to present its journey toward Chinese modernization to Arab audiences.

During the dialogue, Bai also had working discussions with officials from Bureau III of the IDCPC, the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Asian and African Affairs of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on advancing China-Arab relations and deepening practical sub-national cooperation between Ningxia and Arab countries.