Deputy Prime Minister of the Sultanate of Oman Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al-Said flew to Shanghai via Seoul Saturday afternoon, kicking off his five-day official visit to China.

This is first China visit for Fahd and the first highest-ranking Omani official visit to the country in the past decade.

During his visit, Fahd will exchange views with Chinese leaders on Sino-Omani relations and international and regional issues of common concern.

At the invitation of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Fahdand his entourage will visit Beijing on Monday together with some Omani cabinet ministers and entrepreneurs.

Since the diplomatic relations were established in 1978, friendly cooperation between the two countries in the fields of politics, economy,trade and energy have been moving forward steadily. The bilateral trade volume stood at 4.4 billion US dollars in 2004.

Source: Xinhua