Manama, May22(BNA)Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa today returned to Bahrain after attending, on behalf of His Majesty the King, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Shanghai, China.

The Deputy Premier was received on arrival at Bahrain International Airport by Chinese Ambassador Li Chen and other senior officials. He extended thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping, for the warm welcome and good hospitality, commending the good organisation of the (CICA-2014) Summit.

Deputised by HM the King, he reiterated Bahrain’s support to all efforts to transform the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) into an international organisation working on promoting global peace and combating terrorism.

He underlined the need for Asian countries to build a strong alliance and reaffirmed Bahrain’s support to the initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding the “Silk Road Economic Belt”. The official delegation included Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ghanim bin Fadhl Al-Buainain, Bahrain Ambassador to Beijing Dr. Anwar Al-Abdulla and other senior Foreign Ministry officials.

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BNA 1810 GMT 2014/05/22