On February 4^th, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman& Director- General of the Information Department Kong Quan held a tea party at the International Press Center, inviting director- generals and deputy director- generals of 14 departments of the Foreign Ministry to meet with foreign correspondents resident in Beijing. These departments include: the Department of Policy Planning, the Department of Asian Affairs, the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs, the Department of African Affairs, the Department of Eastern European and Central Asian Affairs, 

Extending welcome to these foreign correspondents, director- general Kong Quan said that it was an honor for him to have invited Director- Generals of various departments of the Foreign Ministry as the Chinese Year of Horse drew near and it was maybe the first time for the correspondents to meet with so many director- generals of the Foreign Ministry en masse. 

the Department of Western Europe Affairs, the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, the Department of Latin American Affairs, the Department of International Organizations and Conferences, the Department of Arms Control, the Department of Treaty and Law, the Department of Protocol Affairs, the Department of Consular Affairs, and the Department of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs. Nearly 100 foreign resident journalists from 26 countries attended this meeting.

Another happy coincidence was that this meeting was the 100^th event of the International Press Center. Kong also said that the goal of the Center was to serve the foreign correspondents, hoping they would consider it as their home. Finally he delivered his gratitude to the correspondents for their support for what the Center had done.

The International Press Center was established in May 2000. It is attached to the Information Department of the Foreign Ministry. It opens to all the foreign correspondents including the resident ones and those on short visits to China, and the press officers of foreign missions in China.

Wu Chunhua (Left), Director-general of the Dept. of Western Asian & Northern African Affairs with Ms. Hala Ahmad Ennarrah of Middle East News Agency,Egypt 

Cheng Tao (Right), Director-general of the Dept. of African Affairs with Ms. Zorana Bakovic of  Newspaper "Delo", Slovenia

Li Hui, Director-general of the Dept. of Eastern European & Central Asian Affairs with a Foreign Correspondent

Zhao Jun (Left), Director- general of the Dept. of Western European Affairs with Mr. Anil K. Joseph of PTI, India

Li Baodong (Middle), Director- general of the Dept. of the International Organizations & Conferences with Mr. Michael Forsythe (Right) of Bloomberg L.P., U.S.A. and Mr. Ted Plafker of the Economist, U.K.

Liu Jieyi (First from left ), Director- general of the Dept. Disarmament & Arms Control with Mr. Erik Eckholm of New York Times(Second from left) and Mr. Henry Chu (Third from the left) of Los Angeles Times,U.S.A. 

Xue Hanqin (Middle), Director- general of the Dept. of Treaty & Law with Mr. Brian Rhoads(Left) of Reuters and Mr. Adam Brookes of BBC, U.K.

Liu Jianchao (Middle), Deputy Director- general of the Information Dept. with Mr. James Kynge(Right)of Financial Times, U.K.