Beijing, July 31: The 10th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week started in Guiyang, Guizhou province of Southern China (中国), on July 28, to enhance cultural exchanges and boost educational cooperation among the ten member states. Guiyang (贵阳) is capital of Guizhou （贵州）province, and is famous for the most spectacular mountains and forests like other Spring Cities; like Kunming, Guiyang is a popular summer resort city in China.
Official sources said over 2,000 delegates from China, Russia, Switzerland and ASEAN countries participated in the event to share experiences and build sustainable regional development and peace through education.
Various events, including seminars, a principals’ forum, education services summit, hiking activity and football game will be held over the following week, organizers said.
Since the first China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week took place in 2008, the event has attracted 2,717 colleges and education organizations, and witnessed 1,088 agreements signed through the platform, officials said.
The achievements also reflect the organizing committee’s efforts to foster a spirit of cooperation and partnership between China and Southeast Asian nations.
China and ASEAN should enhance cultural exchanges, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong said while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 10th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week.
“The Education Cooperation Week has promoted people-to-people exchanges and offered opportunities for China and ASEAN to learn from each other,” Liu said.
Mentioning the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN this year, Liu said China has always taken ASEAN as a diplomatic priority and China-ASEAN relationship has made great progress and grown mature.
China-ASEAN relations go far beyond a bilateral level and hold regional, even global significance, Liu, further added.
According to Chinese State media, Liu also met with Lao Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone on occasion, who is in China for the China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week.
At the event, university executives, professors and education experts from ASEAN, Russia, New Zealand and Canada have gathered to discuss educational development opportunities for domestic and international institutions.
ASEAN Youth supported and praised China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” during 10th China-ASEAN Education Exchange week in Guiyang. Student groups from various universities sang songs featuring One Belt and One Road “Dream Road – China ASEAN Education Exchange Week Song”.
A musical gala, comprising singing and dancing activities presented by students from ethnic minorities of Guizhuo, warmly welcomed the foreign delegates.
Students from China, Vietnam and Russia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, Malaysian and other countries presented a series of cultural programs showing the wonderful natural beauty and rich cultural diversity along the sea in Southeast Asia, an ancient trade route of Maritime Silk Road.
The opening ceremony concluded with a mesmerizing song highlighting the common dream of Chinese and ASEAN youth standing together and striving together to accomplish the beautiful vision of “One Belt and One Road “.
Lauding the strategy of One Belt and One Road, participants said OBOR sets up a bridge of friendly exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.
ASEAN, grouping Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, is the sixth-largest economy in the world. Geo-political experts say under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, there are boundless opportunities for China and ASEAN countries to tap into.
The total trade volume of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with China is projected to increase to $1 trillion by 2020, said AKP Mochtan, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs said at the seminar on ‘ASEAN Community Building and China-ASEAN Relations’, during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held from May 14-15,2017,in Beijing.
Thus platforms like China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week offer opportunities to promote collaboration between educational and cultural institutions of China and ASEAN. While the vision of the Belt and Road Initiative further broadens the horizon of mutual cooperation, offering China and ASEAN to further promote educational trade, cultural and trade ties by sharing opportunities and tackling challenges together to achieve common development and prosperity, and build a model community with a shared destiny.
Dr.Arif is Editor of NSN.Asia. He is also a professor of Journalism. His journalistic writings and news stories focus on Silk Road Spirit of cooperation. His reports and analysis highlights the connectivity and exchanges in Eurasia, and geo-economic affairs of emerging Asia, Global South.
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By Dr Arif
