On July 1, 2008, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui met in the Foreign Ministry with a joint press delegation from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Li spoke highly of China's relations with members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), saying that recent years have witnessed substantial progress of the ties between China and CIS members with fruitful results. The two sides have kept frequent high-level visits, increased political trust and supported each other on issues concerning each other's core and major interests with in-depth development of economic, trade and humanities cooperation and close coordination within the SCO and in international affairs. In the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province, the CIS member countries offered spiritual and material support and assistance to China, which fully demonstrated the friendly feelings of the people from CIS countries for the Chinese people. Li also briefed the journalists on China's achievements since the adoption of the reform and opening up policy three decades ago and China's preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games, expressing hope that the delegation members will gain a deep understanding of China through the visit and offer all-round, objective reporting on China to their people.

The journalists said they cherished very much this opportunity to visit China, adding that they were deeply impressed by the development achievements of the country. They pledged to convey their true feeling during the visit to their people through their pens and cameras. The delegation members hoped that the people in the quake-hit region will rebuild homeland soon and wished the Beijing Olympic Games a success.

The joint press delegation is visiting China at the invitation of the Information Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The delegation is composed of 22 journalists from 10 countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Besides Beijing, they will also visit Yunnan and Guangdong.