On March 20, Rao Quan, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism, met with Fahd Hamiduddin, Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Tourism Authority and his entourage in Beijing.

Rao Quan said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia more than three decades ago, bilateral cultural and tourism relations have been continuously strengthened, with fruitful exchanges and cooperation. China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism is willing to work with the Saudi side to actively implement the important consensus between the two leaders during President Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the China-Arab Summit, accelerate the negotiation and signing of cooperation documents in the field of culture and tourism under the framework of the Sino-Saudi High-Level Joint Committee for Culture, Science and Technology, and Tourism Sub-Committee, and co-organize high-level tourism cooperation conferences, industry-academia forums, personnel training and tourism promotion activities, so as to jointly promote the integrated development of culture and tourism and continuously push forward the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "Saudi Arabia" initiative.

CEO Fahd expressed his heartfelt congratulations to President Xi Jinping on his re-election as President of China. During his visit to Saudi Arabia, President Xi announced that Saudi Arabia has become a destination for outbound tourism organized by Chinese citizens, reflecting the great importance attached by the leaders of the two countries to the development of bilateral tourism cooperation. The Saudis are willing to strengthen close cooperation with the Chinese side in the fields of culture and tourism, expand people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, and build a solid humanistic foundation for the Saudi-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

       Saudi Ambassador to China Abdulrahman Al-Khalbi was present during the meeting.