On the 4^th of January, the Academic Affairs Office convened a meeting to discuss the merits of introducing an Arabic Language major as part of the Belt and Road initiative. The meeting was hosted by the Director of the Academic Affairs Office LONG Yonghong, and was attended by representatives of many of China’s language universities such as the Shanghai International Studies University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Peking University, as well as many representatives from RUC. The executive associate Dean of the RUC School of Foreign Languages WANG Jianping gave some suggestions on how developing an Arabic language major is important for the ‘belt and road’ initiative, and then gave an overview of some of the measures that the School had prepared over the last few years in order to implement it. Associate Dean LAI Jiong then gave a detailed report on the plan for adding an Arabic language major at the School of Foreign Language, the content of which highlighted the necessity and feasibility of adding the major, and detailed the concrete plans including personnel development, expressing hope that they had the support of the university. Developing an Arabic language major at RUC is of benefit to the national ‘belt and road’ initiative as it will increase the appeal of the university, and will enable it to develop more informed policy proposals, providing an important knowledge resource to assist in developing national policy strategies. In pursuit of the goal of internationalising RUC and becoming a “double first-rate” university, developing an Arabic language major is of vital importance whether it be in support of China’s national development strategy or in view of the international importance of the Arabic language. The rationality behind personnel development is founded in the university’s strength as a comprehensive university, and will meet the urgent need for Arabic speaking professionals. The attendees firmly agreed with the rationality behind the development plan for an Arabic language major at the RUC School of Foreign Languages, noting that now was the opportune moment for adding this major in consideration of the international political climate and in light of the national strategy. A panel of experts from RUC unanimously agreed to the opinions given at the meeting, on the imperative of developing an Arabic language major at RUC.