Chinese President Xi Jinping recently wrote a letter in response to the representatives of famous Arab artists who participated in the "Silk Road Artists Forum" visit to China, encouraging them to create more works of art that reflect the friendship between China and the Arabs, and to make new contributions to strengthening the friendship between their peoples.

Some Arab artists told Xinhua that they were deeply inspired by Xi's response, and vowed to promote exchanges between Chinese and Arab cultures.

Egyptian artist Ibrahim El-Desouki Fahmy confirmed that he "has a strong sense of pride and joy" when he learned of the contents of the letter.

Fahmy, who taught art at Cairo University from 1992 to 1997, joined about 50 famous Arab artists to write the letter to Xi recently.

He said President Xi's words touched my heart, especially his emphasis on the role that culture and art can play in promoting understanding and promoting mutual learning between China and Arab countries.

In the letter, Xi said culture can connect hearts, and art can connect the world.

He also pointed out that since the opening of the ancient Silk Road to the Belt and Road cooperation, the exchanges between the Chinese and Arab civilizations have spanned thousands of years with mutual appreciation and writing a historical legacy of mutual learning.

Egyptian artist Ahmed Nawar, one of the co-authors of the letter to Xi, said he was very happy when they received the response from the Chinese president.

Speaking about why he wanted to write the letter to Xi, Nawar, a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Egypt's Helwan University, said he felt it his duty to express the artists' feelings about the progress they saw in China in all fields, especially the artistic, cultural and civilizational fields.

Describing the trips as inspiring in all fields including humanitarian, cultural and artistic, Nawar said he also wants to promote dialogue between the Arab and Chinese civilizations and promote artistic and cultural exchange between them.

After learning that Xi had responded to Arab artists, the Algerian artist Djami Rachid (76 years old), who joined a group of Arab artists on a trip to China in 2012 and attended the Beijing International Art Biennale in 2019, decided to print and keep the letter.

"It was a great honor to receive such a reply from President Xi Jinping," he said, hailing Xi as a great leader who greatly values the development of culture and art, as well as cultural exchanges.

He stressed his admiration for Xi's promotion of dialogue among civilizations and mutual cultural learning on many occasions, such as the China-Arab Summit held last December.

Rashid expressed his hope that artists from Arab countries and China will have more opportunities to interact, learn from each other and improve together.

The Palestinian artist, Majed Shala, from the Gaza Strip, said that the Arabs witnessed progress in China's economic development, and that the important factor that facilitates the rapid development of China is its ancient and wonderful civilization.

Silla said that China and Arab countries have achieved fruitful cooperation in political, economic and other fields in recent years, and it is necessary to strengthen cultural exchanges, which will help more Palestinians and Arabs understand China, a country with a rich history.

In this regard, he spoke highly of the eight major cooperation initiatives proposed by Xi during his visit to Saudi Arabia late last year, which included promoting dialogue among civilizations between China and Arab countries.

Silla said that the Chinese and Arab civilizations are two important civilizations in the world, while culture and art are important bridges to promote exchanges between peoples.

He said that with the joint will of the leaders of both China and Arab countries, cooperation in the cultural field will be further strengthened in the future.

Zeina Barhoum, the Jordanian soprano and founder of the Amman Opera Festival, has been invited to perform in China several times. She released an album entitled "Al-Qantara 2, Zeina in China", which includes a song entitled "Silk Road Dream", a duet with a Chinese tenor.

Barhoum indicated that the album seeks to review the history of the ancient Silk Road and the long-standing Chinese-Arab friendship, in addition to enhancing cultural communication between China and the Arab world, adding that Chinese and Arab artists, including singers, can play a greater role in deepening bilateral cooperation and strengthening ties. Popularity and the strengthening of mutual learning between the two civilizations.

Regarding the global civilization initiative proposed by China, she said that artists need to pay more attention to the legacy and innovation of civilization, which will benefit the value of the times in history and culture, and promote the innovative development of traditional culture in various countries.