In Beijing, Qatar's ambassador to China, Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Dehaimi, hosted a reception on the occasion of Qatar National Day.

The reception was attended by Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong as the guest of honour, and a number of representatives of the Chinese government and representatives of the Arab, Islamic and foreign diplomatic missions, as well as ranking officials and figures from the political, diplomatic, economic, commercial, cultural, media, educational and social circles.

In a speech during the ceremony, the Qatari ambassador underlined Qatar's keenness on its relations with the friends in China, and on promoting the strategic partnership between the two countries. The ambassador expressed his confidence that a promising and prosperous future awaits the Qatari-Chinese relations and the Arab-Chinese relations, and that 2019 was a special year in the path of relations between the two countries.

He noted that Qatar was among the first countries to support and sign the 'Belt and Road' initiative, and that a special committee was formed in Qatar to implement this initiative. For his part, the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister underlined that the relations between Qatar and China have made great strides since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries 31 years ago, noting that the political mutual trust has steadily strengthened, and that the mutual beneficial co-operation has advanced with balanced steps in the fields of energy, economy, trade, finance and people-to-people contact.