College students from China and the Middle East came to a consensus on cross-civilization dialogue and cutting-edge education exchange during a exchange activity organized by the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University (Tsinghua PBCSF) to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in January 2025.

The program, aimed at exploring the financial dynamics of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and saw Tsinghua PBCSF students engage with the region's leading universities. Participating Chinese students exchanged insights with local young talents and esteemed scholars on topics including talent cultivation, cross-civilization dialogue mechanisms, and the frontiers of AI education.

At King Saud University, the Tsinghua students compared Saudi Arabia's initiatives with China's development experience, drawing parallels between the "Shenzhen speed" and NEOM's ambitious vision, as well as between Yiwu's e-commerce-driven support for SMEs and Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Project, which aims to transform the tourism economy. These discussions underscored the shared aspirations of both nations in their respective development narratives.

At New York University Abu Dhabi, Tsinghua students engaged in an in-depth discussion with Professor Justin Stearns on the preservation of traditional Middle Eastern culture and the impact of external cultural influences. Additionally, at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, students from both institutions explored AI-driven innovations in finance, health care and transportation. Both sides recognized AI as a crucial driver of international technological cooperation and industrial advancement under the BRI framework.

China has been the biggest trading partner of the Arab states for many consecutive years, with bilateral trade surging from $36.7 billion in 2004 to $398 billion in 2023.