From May 28 to June 1, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a press release published on the Facebook page of the Tunisian presidency
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed is making a five-day state visit to China on Tuesday, which will last until June 1, the Tunisian presidency said in a statement.
The same source specifies that Saïed will attend the inaugural session of the 10th ministerial meeting of the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum in Beijing as a guest of honor.
The King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will also participate in the forum, alongside the President of China, Xi Jinping.
The Chinese president will hold talks with the four heads of state to exchange views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li said on Monday.
He added that in addition to bilateral diplomatic and trade relations, the war in Gaza, peace in the Middle East, and other regional and international issues should be discussed during these meetings.
The foreign ministers of Arab States or their representatives, as well as the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, will participate in the meeting, indicate official sources in Beijing, who specify that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart Mauritanian Mohamed Salem Ould Merzouk will co-chair the forum.
China is Tunisia’s 4th trading partner after France, Italy, and Germany, with Beijing also being one of the main Asian markets for Tunisian tourism. At the same time, several projects have been carried out in Tunisia thanks to donations Chinese, such as the premises of the country’s National Archives, the Sfax University Hospital as well and the Diplomatic Academy, which was inaugurated in January 2024 in the presence of the head of Chinese diplomacy.
Founded in 2004, the China-Arab Forum aims to consolidate cooperation between China and Arab countries in the political, economic, and security fields, in addition to regional and international issues of common interest.
Kaïs Saïed participated in the first Sino-Arab summit held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in December 2022, during which he had the opportunity to meet his Chinese counterpart, with whom he reviewed the means to promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
