On September 1, the Fourth China-Arab States Libraries and Information Experts Meeting, supported by the Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, co-sponsored by the National Library of China and the Secretariat of the League of Arab States (LAS), and organized by Zhejiang Library, was held by video conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Hala Gad, Director of the Information and Documentation Translation Department of the Secretariat of the LAS, Feng Litao, Deputy Director of Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, Chen Ying, Deputy Director of the National Library of China, Ye Jing, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Chu Shuqing, Director of Zhejiang Library, together with over 40 librarians, officials and experts from 11 Arab States, the Secretariat of the LAS and 13 Chinese institutions attended the meeting by video conferencing.

 

 

In his opening speech, Feng Litao said that the China-Arab States Libraries and Information Experts Meeting mechanism is an important achievement of deepening cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two sides under the framework of the China-Arab Countries Cooperation Forum. In particular, in July 2018, the China-Arab Digital Library project jointly established by China and the Arab States was officially launched, becoming an important bridge for the communication and development of Chinese and Arab civilizations in the digital era. It is expected that the participants will speak up, exchange ideas and discuss thoroughly on the common issue of library information services under the normal epidemic prevention and control, further enhance the awareness of cooperation and mutual assistance, and seek cooperation in the library field between the two sides in the post-epidemic era.

 

 

In his opening speech, Hala Gad said that since the first conference held in 2015, Chinese and Arab experts and scholars in the field of libraries and information have carried out extensive and in-depth practical cooperation in key areas on the basis of mutual trust and benefit, such as exchange and sharing of library literature and information, preservation and protection of precious ancient books and endangered documents, digital library construction and services, and professional training, and made a lot of positive and useful explorations to promote the common progress of the library and information industry in China and the Arab States. It is expected that the participants will take the opportunity of this conference to continue to develop and innovate under the framework of the cooperation mechanism already established between the two sides, and join hands to promote the new development of libraries in both countries.

 

 

In her opening speech, Chen Ying said that the conference had been planned for nearly a year, and both sides had worked closely together and overcome difficulties to ensure that the conference would be held on schedule in the "cloud". In this context, both sides should actively share their sound experience in library services under regular epidemic prevention and control, continue to work on the construction of the China-Arab Digital Library, join hands to address the common opportunities and challenges, and make active efforts to promote the sustainable development and prosperity of library and cultural exchanges in the China-Arab region.

 

 

The theme of the conference is "Regional Exchanges and Cooperation of Libraries under the New Normal of the Epidemic". The participants focused on sub-topics like "Opportunities and Challenges of Online Services of China-Arab Libraries" and "New Features and Models of Operation and Management of the China-Arab Digital Library", and shared their measures and practices in the context of regular epidemic prevention and control, including flexible library opening policies, optimizing service capacity for visitors, and steady upgrade of online resource contents. The meeting also focused on how to enrich the resource contents and enhance the service impact of the China-Arab Digital Library project, and discussed the vision and path to deepen the mutual benefit mechanism in the library and information field between China and the Arab states.

 

The conference issued a closing communiqué, which discussed and reached consensus on the following agenda: "Strengthening the Exchanges and Cooperation between Chinese and Arab Libraries under the Regular Epidemic Prevention and Control", "Encouraging Libraries in China and the Arab States to Participate in the Joint Construction of the China-Arab Digital Library", "Give Full Play to the Long-term Mechanism and Active Role of the Joint Committee of the China-Arab Digital Library Project", "The Chinese and Arab Libraries Should Continue to Encourage Each Other to Donate Books and Publications Related to Culture, History and Civilization, and Improve the Mechanism of Mutual Donation", "Welcome the King Abdulaziz Public Library, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Provide Arabic Book Aataloging Training Courses to Chinese Institutions in 2022", "Encourage Libraries of the Two Sides to Collaborate on Compiling a Collection of Best Practices in Library Epidemic Prevention and Control", etc.

 

This meeting, as an important part of the Implementation Plan of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum 2020-2022, the outcome document of the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, further strengthened the concept of civilizational exchanges and mutual appreciation between China and the Arab States, and built more consensus between the Chinese and Arab libraries and information sector to fight unitedly and together respond to the Covid-19 epidemic, which is conducive to the continuation of the collective cooperation between the two sides in the field of library and information under the Belt and Road Initiative, and to the continued innovation of the two sides under the framework of the already established China-Arab cooperation mechanisms such as the China-Arab Digital Library project, and the joint promotion of the high-quality development of libraries in both countries.