Congratulations on CPAFFC’s 60th Anniversary

The Lebanese-Chinese League for Friendship and Cooperation （LCLFC） was founded on March 3， 2003， bringing together a group of talented Lebanese cultural and arts experts， women leaders， former diplomats， engineers， doctors， entrepreneurs and lawyers. It has received great support from successive Chinese ambassadors to Lebanon and its members are often invited to attend various activities hosted by the Chinese Embassy.

The first successful cooperation between the two sides was the erection of the memorial bust of Dr. Ma Haide （George Hatem）， a humanitarian doctor and a great model for selfless dedication to the lofty cause of promoting Chinese-Lebanese friendship and cooperation. His bust was erected in his hometown of Hammana on August 31， 2003.

For years， the CPAFFC has given us great support. Since 2005， the two sides have jointly held a number of seminars and cultural forums in Beirut and Beijing， and published various books and publications. In May 2005， the first China-Lebanon Relations Conference was held in Beirut. In 2006， the original schedule for several Chinese scholars to visit Lebanon and attend cultural forums was delayed by warfare and other cultural activities of the LCLFC were also canceled abruptly.

However， at the kind invitation of the CPAFFC， quite a few Lebanese and Chinese scholars attended the second China-Lebanon Relations Conference in Beijing on May 30， 2006. Through cooperation with Notre Dame University-Louaize， the Lebanon-China Mutual Investment Conference was held in Lebanon on November 16， 2007 and a collection of conference documents was published. Since 2008， the two sides have jointly organized many successful seminars， tourism forums and youth exchanges.

In 2013， with great support and effort from the CPAFFC， the President of the Lebanese University and his party paid a successful visit to China and signed intercollegiate cooperation agreements with Peking University， Beijing Foreign Studies University， Beijing International Studies University and Shanghai International Studies University respectively. During the visit， I was granted the Award of Contribution to China-Lebanon Friendship.

At the time of writing in 2014， the two sides had already reached consensus on important cooperation projects： the Chinese Youth Academic delegation’s visit to Lebanon in April and the Lebanese delegation’s visit to China in September； preparation for the exchange visits of local government officials of China and Lebanon scheduled in late April and August.

Through these activities， more and more Lebanese scholars value the study of Chinese history， experience of modernization， culture， arts and literature and have written a number of works very beneficial to the strengthening of China-Lebanon cultural relations. The LCLFC hopes to expand academic cooperation between universities of the two countries， sign more intercollegiate cooperation agreements， enhance exchanges between teachers， students， technical and management personnel， and set up a Confucius Institute in the Lebanese University to teach Chinese language and literature.

For a long time， the CPAFFC has attached great importance to the study of China-Arab Cultural Silk Road that ended in Sur， a seaport city in South Lebanon， at that time. It is a clear evidence of the long history of China-Lebanon cultural and economic relations. Lebanon hopes to upgrade the ancient Cultural Silk Road to a Silk Road of modern science and technology by means of modern communications technology and internet.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the CPAFFC， therefore， we express high appreciation of its great support and selfless assistance to bilateral cooperation of its staff. Without such support， it would have been impossible to organize such important activities to strengthen people-to-people relations between China and Lebanon.

At present， China ranks second in the world economy and actively participates in the formation of a new international pattern and a more humanitarian globalization. During such a crucial period of world history， the LCFFC hopes to bring the cooperation with the CPAFFC to a new level. All friendship organizations of Arab countries should further develop their relations with it. The current situation is conducive to such development and the consolidation of China-Arab people-to-people relations at all levels.

Written in Beirut

March 5， 2014