A group of Maltese editors who are presently in China on a familiarisation visit organised by Emirates airline were hosted by the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Malta, Chai Xi, at his residence.

The group consisted of the editor of The Times, Ray Bugeja, the editor of The Malta Independent Stephen Calleja, the editor of l-orizzont Frans Ghirxi and the editorial adviser to Allied Newspapers Limited, Laurence Grech. Also present were Emirates’ manager for Malta and Cyprus, Paul Fleri Soler and BPC’s director, public relations, Carmel Bonello.

During dinner, which was also hosted by Madame Zhang Rufen and attended by the editors’ wives and officials from the Chinese Embassy and the China Cultural Centre, the Ambassador spoke at length about Emirates’ initiatives to promote travelling to China from Malta. Ambassador Chai recalled that in 2004 Emirates Airline, in collaboration with the China Cultural Centre in Malta, had organised an official presentation on Shanghai to promote Emirates’ new service to Shanghai at the China Cultural Centre in Valletta.

In September 2006, to celebrate the launch of its non-stop service to Beijing from Dubai, Emirates hosted a grand reception for over 300 travel and cargo agents at the Garden of Serenity, a typical Chinese Garden, in Santa Lucija. Twenty Cypriot journalists were flown from Cyprus for the occasion. Special Chinese food was prepared and entertainment included Chinese musicians, Chinese traditional dance and Chinese calligraphy.

Earlier this year, Emirates sponsored Heritage Malta’s prestigious exhibition entitled Silent Warriors, the Chinese Terracotta Warriors and also carried these large terracotta warriors on its aircraft from Malta to Beijing.

Ambassador Chai said that the news media play an important part in informing the Maltese people about China, which has a rich cultural heritage. He expressed his wish that relations will be established between Maltese and Chinese journalists.

Mr Fleri Soler thanked the Ambassador for his hospitality. He said that Emirates are experiencing an increase of both business and tourist passengers from Malta to China. The Dubai-Beijing and the Dubai-Shanghai routes are the quickest routes to reach China. He said: “Since Emirates launched its flights to China, Emirates has endeavoured to promote both Beijing and Shanghai destinations. We are noticing a new awareness about China in Malta and this is leading to an increase in both business and tourist travel.”

China’s phenomenal growth has provided many opportunities to catalyse trade and tourism and has led Emirates to increase its services to the country. Emirates offers double daily services to Beijing, daily to Shanghai and 17 weekly services to Hong Kong from Dubai. Emirates plans to start double dailies into Shanghai in February 2008. The airline also operates dedicated freighter services to China – eight weekly services to Shanghai and 13 to Hong Kong.

Emirates currently operates five flights weekly between Malta and Dubai via Larnaca in Cyprus, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on the new Boeing 777-200