Unter the invitation of All-China Women's Delegation, the 38 members of Qatari Women's Delegation led by SHEIKHA Muzah Bint Nasser Abdullah Al-Misnad, Consort of the Amir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, paid a friendly visit to Beijing from October 15th to 20th, 2001 by special plane.

　　During their stay, Mr. Hu Jintao, Vice-President of the state, met with the important members of the delegation; Mme. Zhu Lin, wife of Chairman of the Standing Committee, the National People's Congress Mr. Li Peng, held a courtesy meeting with the delegation; Mme. Chen Muhua, Honorary President of All-China Women's Federation met with and hosted a banquet for them; and Mme. Gu Xiulian, Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of All-China Women's Federation, held a working conference with them. Members of the delegation paid an official call to the Red Cross Society of China and the Ministry of Education and reached an intention agreement on cooperation with the latter. Among the other places visited by the delegation are Chinese Children's Activity Center, Guang An Men Chinese Medicine Hospital, Zhong Guan Cun Science and Technology Park, the Asian Games Village Community and China Women's College. SHEIKHA Muzah also delivered a speech at China Women's College.

　　Mme. Gu Xiulian, Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of All-China Women's Federation, Mr. Yang Wenchang, Deputy-Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mme. Feng Cui, Member of the Secretariat of All-China Women's Federation, and H.E. Mr. Saleh A. Al-Bouanin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, attended the important activities of the delegation.

　　SHEIKHA Muzah spoke highly of Chinese culture at this first visit. She said, "China stands a fascinating country in the east. And Chinese people, composed, farsighted and full of wisdom, are the best representation of oriental culture. They build their country with great intelligence and therefore have reaped fast development." After her visit to the Great Wall, she was deeply moved by the diligence and intelligence of Chinese people and wrote down on the guests' book as, "the Great Wall was built on the great spirit of the mankind!"

　　As to the women's advancement in China, SHEIKHA Muzah said, "in China, we see men and women work together and cooperate well with each other, which I take as the fine embodiment of the equality between the two in Chinese culture. The history is jointly written by men and women and the Great Wall is one of their masterpieces." She also noted that Qatari people could draw on the successful experience of China's efforts in promoting women's advancement. And for better exchanges with Chinese women, she signed the Agreement on Friendly Exchanges between All-China Women's Federation and the Supreme Council for Family Affairs of Qatar. She also, again and again, invited Chinese women's delegation to visit Qatar. Meanwhile, in order to offer her support to women and children's affairs in China as well as to show their concern for the Chinese women and children in poverty-stricken areas, she donated US$500,000 to All-China Women's Federation.

　　Other members of the delegation including high officials of governmental organs and social organizations of Qatar and experts and scholars in science and education also showed their strong interest in the women's affairs as well as in some other fields in China. They also expressed their wishes to learn from China in the relevant fields.