Qatar and China yesterday agreed to establish a “strategic partnership” that will “focus on the common interest of the two countries and the two people and serve their development and prosperity”.

The agreement came during the official talks held between HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the People’s Palace in Beijing yesterday.

HH the Emir is on a state visit to China.

During the talks, attended by senior ministers and officials from both sides, views on bilateral relations and co-operation in various fields as well as on international and regional issues of mutual concern were exchanged.

A joint communique, issued after the talks, said the two countries’ leaderships had agreed that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on July 9, 1988, “co-operation in economic, trade, energy, human and cultural exchanges have achieved fruitful results”.

“In line with the realistic needs for developing the Qatari-Chinese relations and the common desire of both sides to further develop bilateral relations to a new level, the two sides decided to establish a strategic partnership which will focus on the common interest of the two countries and their  people and serve their  development and prosperity,” the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted the joint communique as saying.

President Xi welcomed Qatar to participate in the building of the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st-century maritime Silk Road.

“China is willing to establish a long-term stable energy partnership with Qatar and boost co-operation and investment in infrastructure, telecommunication and finance as well as joint investment in third countries,” President Xi said.

Qatar and China signed a raft of agreements later yesterday.

lHH the Emir has donated a grant of $10mn for setting up a Qatar Chair for Middle East studies at the Peking University. This was announced during a meeting between Qatar University  president Dr Sheikha Abdullah al-Misnad  and Peking University president Enge Wang yesterday.