Opening ceremony of the 2016 program for Young Leaders from Pacific Island Countries held at GDUFS

On the afternoon of May 23rd, the opening ceremony of the 2016 program for Young Leaders from Pacific Island Countries was held in the International Countries Hall on the GDUFS North Campus. 24 participants of this program from 7 Pacific Island Countries: Cook Island, Fiji, Micronesia, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu attended this ceremony, and they were met by Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Guangdong People’s Government, LUO Jun; President of GDUFS, ZHONG Weihe; Vice President of GDUFS, FANG Fanquan, and Dean of Institute for International Education, LIANG Xuehong.

First, on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, Deputy Director General LUO extended a warm welcome to the present young leaders from the Pacific Island Countries. Since the cross-ocean exchanges are substantially more frequent than before, he believed that this program can be beneficial for the participants to have a better understanding of China and Guangdong Province.

Deputy Director General LUO delevering a speech

Because it was the first time for most of the participants to visit China, LUO gave a brief introduction of Guangdong Province in several aspects, which included geographical position, population, economic development, international exchanges, the pioneer status of China’s reform and opening up. At the end of his address, he hoped that the participants can get to know about China via Guangdong and their participations can not only be useful and helpful for their future careers and lives back home, but also be valuable and beneficial for the future exchange and cooperation between China and their countries.

Then, President ZHONG also delivered his cordial welcome remarks. He said that this program was initiated by Mr. Hu Chunhua, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Party Secretary of Guangdong Province, and aims to enhance the partnership between China and the Pacific Island Countries and implement the One Belt One Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Also, he mentioned that GDUFS is proudly entrusted to conduct the program and have gained lots of experience to organize this kind of program successfully.

What’s more, he introduced the main strategy of GDUFS - internationalization in higher education - to the all the attendees. At last, on behalf of the University, he expressed his gratitude to the Foreign Affairs Office of Guangdong People’s Government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our embassies in the region for the vision, support and partnership, and wished the program a great success.

President ZHONG delivering a speech

After that, Vice Chairman of Samoa National Youth Council, Kevin David Lameka Schuster, the representative of all the Program participants, extended his warm regards and appreciation to the Chinese government. Then, he expressed his excited and expectant mind for the following three week-long program. He and his partners were looking forward to learning more about China, about the people and culture and especially, networking with other Pacific Islanders that have travelled across to be present at this program. As the leaders of their countries in the near future, he and his colleagues promised that they will challenge themselves to learn as much as they can during the following 3 weeks, hoping that they will depart with lots of eye-opening experiences from this program to better equip them for tomorrow.

At the end of the ceremony, all the attendees gathered together and took a group photo.

Kevin Schuster delivering a speech

A group photo

中文报道：第二期太平洋岛国青年领袖研修班开班

Attachment: the introduction of the 2016 program for Young Leaders from Pacific Island Countries

China, while proactively engaged with the Pacific Island Countries in recent years, has witnessed substantial exchanges and cooperation in economics and trade, culture, education and health care sectors. Guangdong Province in particular has carried out increasing cooperation with the Pacific Island Countries in economics and trade, tourism, marine fisheries, health care and education with local governments.

To sustain and facilitate the pragmatic cooperation between the two sides, in 2015, the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Guangdong (GDFAO) has organized three Pacific Island Countries training programs for 62 participants from 8 Pacific Island Countries.

To inject further vitality into the tangible win-win cooperation and advance the pragmatic exchanges and cooperation with Pacific Island Countries in Guangdong and across China, this 2016 program for Young Leaders from Pacific Island Countries is sponsored by GDFAO and organized by GDUFS.