On March 25, 2012, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, at invitation, attended the luncheon hosted by the committee of Arab diplomatic envoys in China.

Addressing the event, Yang spoke highly of the traditional friendship between China and Arab states. He said that the two sides have maintained close high-level contacts since the establishment of strategic partnership at the 2010 China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. Premier Wen Jiabao successfully visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in January this year and reached important consensus with leaders of the three countries on comprehensively promoting China-Arab friendly cooperation, which has injected new vitality into the development of bilateral relations. Since last year, many Arab state leaders have visited China and China-Arab relations developed healthily. China-Arab pragmatic cooperation remains fruitful. In 2011, the bilateral trade volume approached US$200 billion, up 34% over 2010 and reaching a historical high. The bilateral cultural exchanges develop deeply. China is willing to work with Arab states to prepare well for the fifth ministerial-level meeting of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, deepen the bilateral strategic cooperation and boost common development.

Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps and Sudanese Ambassador to China Mirghani Mohamed Salih said that Arab states admire China's prosperity and development very much and sincerely wish China grows faster and better. Arab states and China enjoy a long history of friendship. In particular, since the two sides established strategic partnership within the framework of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, the bilateral cooperation in all fields has gained substantial progress and achieved fruitful results. Arab states are willing to take the opportunity of the fifth ministerial-level meeting to expand the pragmatic cooperation with China and promote the in-depth development of bilateral ties.