Dr. Hassan Al-Derham, President of Qatar University, sent an e-mail of thanks to Prof. Hao Ping, President of Peking University on March 8, 2021. By citing a famous Chinese saying “Only in chilly weather can the lofty spirit of pines and cypresses be highlighted, and only in hard times can the sincerity of friends be demonstrated”, President Al-Derham extended his great appreciation to the PKU-QU Joint Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control on its selfishless help to its Qatar counterpart. During the days when both countries went all out to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, the PKU team addressed confusions, shared official documents, and introduced experiences to Qatar University on tackling the epidemic. Besides, the State of Qatar Chair in Middle Eastern Studies at Peking University (briefed as “the Chair Program”) played a key role in ensuring smooth communication and providing translation services, which also gained Mr. Al-Derham’s great gratitude.

 

The experience and documents PKU shared with QU has reached other sectors of the Qatar society, as President Al-Derham noted, which provided critical support to the country to draw up effective strategies in combating the COVID-19.

 

Letter from Dr. Al-Derham, President of Qatar University

 

On Marh 17, Prof. Hao Ping, president of Peking University, sent a response letter to Mr. Al-Derham. Mr. Hao thanked Mr. Al-Derham for his warming greetings and recalled memorable moments that at this time of last year, PKU quickly responded to QU’s proposals by holding a webinar to share the experience of combating COVID-19 pandemic. The joint committee founded by both sides soon after the webinar entailed an important role in guiding the PKU-QU cooperation on stemming the spread of the pandemic.

 

Prof. Hao wrote in his letter that “as a famous Arab proverb goes, ‘True friendship stands the test of hardships’, we are surely to win the battle against COVID-19.” Going forward, PKU stands ready to expand the cooperation and exchanges with QU through the Qatar Chair project.

 

Presidents of PKU and QU presented at the video conference to share the experience

in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Peking University and Qatar University have seen fruitful achievements in their cooperation to curb the pandemic, which broke out at the beginning of 2020 and gravely impacted Qatar on the last February. On March 19, 2020, President Hao Ping and Al-Derham, together with leaders and medical experts from both universities, held a video conference themed the cooperation on the fight against the pandemic. On this meeting, both sides agreed to found a joint committee in tackling the coronavirus. Just four days later, the coordinated organization officially started operation thanks to the swift actions and close communication from both sides. The following several months, the PKU team tried its best and managed to address many problems Qatar concerned and targetedly transedite huge volumes of documents and shared them with Qatar through the Chair Program.

 

Besides, the PKU School of Foreign Languages also published the Arab edition and the English edition of the Counter COVID-19 Documents, which were later shared with all sectors in Qatar through QU’s efforts. PKU’s endeavors strongly shored up the Qatar’s prevention and control of the pandemic and thus attracting wide attention and gaining a high opinion in the Qatar community.

 

The Counter COVID-19 Documents (Arabic version)

 

Founded in 2016, the State of Qatar Chair in Middle Eastern Studies at Peking University aims to provide solid support for researches about Middle East fields around the world, improve mutual understanding, mutual respect and dialogue between cultures, and promote the China-Qatar cooperation in all fields. The incumbent chair professor is Dr. Wu Bingbing, Deputy Director of the Department of Arabic Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University and Director of the Middle East Studies Center, PKU.

 

President Al-Darhem participated in the annual meeting of the Oversight Committee

of the Chair Program in 2018