12月10日，中国日报（China Daily）刊登了题为《Books find a place in growing ties》的全英文报道，文中援引了埃及著名出版人、翻译家、中华图书特殊贡献奖获奖人艾哈迈德·赛义德（白鑫）接受国家社科基金重大项目“世界汉学家口述中文与中华文化国际传播史”及北京高校卓越青年科学家计划“一带一路汉学话语体系研究”项目提供学术支持的汉学访谈中关于中国文学作品在阿拉伯世界的传播部分，并对中也双方以交换文本的方式签署了《中华人民共和国国家新闻出版署与也门共和国新闻、文化和旅游部关于经典著作互译出版的备忘录》进行报道。

亚洲经典著作互译计划是根据习近平总书记在亚洲文明大会上提出的重要倡议发起，重点推进亚洲47国的文化互译和文明互鉴，由中宣部进出口管理局负责实施，秘书处设在北京语言大学。截至目前，中国已与新加坡、巴基斯坦、韩国、伊朗、老挝、亚美尼亚、吉尔吉斯斯坦、阿塞拜疆、蒙古国、也门签署经典著作互译出版备忘录。

China and the Arab countries have built growing ties through books over the past decade, experts and business insiders say.

Egyptian publisher and Sinologist Ahmad El-Saeed recalled a moment at the Cairo International Book Fair, one of the world's largest of its kind, in February, during an interview with the Chinese Culture Translation and Studies Support Network.

A reader, impressed by Chinese writer Liu Zhenyun's full-length novel Someone To Talk To and short story Tapu (referring to a town name in the plot), asked whether they had an Arabic version of Liu's most recent work Laughter and Tears: A Novel, which was published in July 2021 in China.

El-Saeed, whose company Bayt Alhekma Cultural has so far translated and published more than 1,000 China-themed books in the Arab world, noted that there is also market demand for works of contemporary writers like Yu Hua, Xu Zechen and Nobel laureate Mo Yan.

Bestsellers are those introducing China's traditional culture and modern values, he says.

"Arab readers want to know about Taoist and Confucian thoughts, the ancient art of war, as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping's thoughts, socialism with Chinese characteristics, and how China manages reform and opening-up with miraculous achievements in merely four decades … Readers are eager to explore the cultural roots behind China's fast growth."

He adds that biographies of successful entrepreneurs like Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei, are also welcomed.

It was very different from around a decade ago, when there were few publishing exchanges between China and Arab countries, and his team struggled to get Chinese works into Arab book fairs, he says.

During the Riyadh International Book Fair in the capital of Saudi Arabia in October 2021, the over 300 copies of the first and second volumes of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China that his team brought sold out early, while major bookstore chains in the country ordered another 5,000 copies, El-Saeed said.

At this year's book fair in Riyadh from Sept 29 to Oct 8, China Intercontinental Press & Media Co brought around 3,000 copies of books from a dozen domestic publishing houses, as well as creative cultural products, according to Yang Xue, deputy director of the company's international cooperation department of publication center.

On Oct 4, during the book fair, the company and the Center for Research and Intercommunication Knowledge of Saudi Arabia held a news conference to introduce and promote a dozen works, including books on Chinese literature and geography, a biography on Pony Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, one on the rule of law in China, and a book on Saudi Arabia's history of currency, Yang says.

The two organizations have been joining hands backed by a memorandum signed in 2016 in which China and Saudi Arabia agreed to translate and publish classic, modern and contemporary works from each other.

Such a systematic translation and publication mechanism with the Arab countries dates back to 2010, when China and the League of Arab States signed a memorandum to translate and publish 50 works, 25 for each side. The mission has just been completed, and sales are stable and satisfying, Yang says.

In late October, China and Yemen signed a similar memorandum upon which 20 classic works from the two countries are expected to be translated and published during the upcoming five years.