On July 27th, Vice President Song Jingwu attended the reception held by the Scottish Office of the British Embassy in China welcoming Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland. Vice President Song Jingwu had a cordial talk with Sturgeon and expressed willingness to further strengthen cooperation with the Scottish government. Sturgeon said she hopes to enhance exchanges between China and Scotland and promote cooperation in various fields.

On July 27th，Mr Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with Ms Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, and the British Ambassador to China, Ms Barbara Woodward at the CPAFFC. Vice President Song Jingwu extended warm welcome to Sturgeon and her delegation on behalf of President Li Xiaolin, and briefed her on the activities carried out by the CPAFFC including friendly exchanges with foreign countries, local government cooperation, public diplomacy and charity. He pointed out that the CPAFFC and the Scottish government have kept in close contact and good collaboration, and hoped to continue to build and strengthen the cooperation mechanisms with the British local governments in the future.   Sturgeon thanked the CPAFFC for helping arrange her visit in China, and expressed her appreciation to the CPAFFC in promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges and local government cooperation between China and Scotland. Sturgeon said the two sides share many areas of common interest, and hoped to deepen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, business and trade, innovation, and education through this visit.

On July 27th, Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland made a speech on “Female Competitiveness and Gender Equality” at the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).   CPAFFC Vice President Song Jingwu hosted the event which was attended by Ms Barbara Woodward, the British Ambassador to China, and over 100 representatives from the Chinese National People’s Congress, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Public Security, the Beijing Municipal Government and Beijing Women’s Federation.   Sturgeon reviewed the progress made on women’s rights worldwide and China’s own achievements since the Fourth World Conference on Women hosted by China 20 years ago. She shared some steps taken by Scotland to promote gender equality, and hoped that China can show leadership in this field. She answered questions from the audience after the speech.   Nicola Sturgeon is the first female First Minister in Scotland who had won the Scottish Politician of the Year for many times. She was named as one of “the most influential women” by the BBC. At the invitation of the CPAFFC, she paid a visit to China from July 26th to 30th.

  The opening ceremony of 2015 Tianjin International Children's Culture & Art Festival, jointly sponsored by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), China International Culture Association (CICA), China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) and the Tianjin Municipal People's Government, was held in Tianjin on July 26th.Mayor of Tianjin Mr. Huang Xingguo, the CPAFFC Vice President Mme. Lin Yi and the CSCLF Vice Chairman Mme. Tang Wensheng launched the festival. Mr. Xiao Huaiyuan, Chairman of the Standing Committee of Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress, Mr. Zang Xianfu, Chairman of the Tianjin People’s Political Consultative Conference, and the diplomats from the Embassies of Czech, Nepal, Mongolia, Indonesia in China were also present at the ceremony.   In her speech at the welcome meeting for the diplomats and troupe representatives, Mme. Lin said that the festival provided an opportunity for the children worldwide to communicate, showcased the vigor and vitality of the new generation, and contributed to the common development of diverse cultures. She hoped that every one would join hands to work for deeper friendship among the young people and the progress of human civilization.   With the theme of “Peace, Friendship and Future”, the festival has entered its eighth session since 1998, and will be on from July 26h to 30th. It is joined by more than 2000 teenagers and kids from over 60 countries abroad and over 20 provinces of China. During the festival, there will be a series of activities including 5-day performances, painting competition and exhibition on “the Belt and Road”,etc.

On July 24, 3-rd China-Russia Youth Friendship Evening, organized by People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries was held in Beijing. Mr Song Jingwu, Vice President of CPAFFC,delivered speeches respectively and attended the function.The Chinese and Russian youth performed together. About 80 guests were present.       

Cohosted by the CPAFFC, China-Pakistan Friendship Association(CPFA) and Pakistan Embassy in China, the Launching Ceremony of “You and Us: Stories of China and Pakistan” was held in the Peace Palace of our association on July 24th, 2015. President of the CPFA Sha Zukang, former Vice Foreign Minister Liu Shuqing, former Vice Foreign Minister Xu Dunxin, President of the Diplomatic Pen-club Cai Fangbai and Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood khalid attended the launching ceremony. ‘You and Us: Stories of China and Pakistan’ is edited by the former Ambassador to Pakistan Lu Shulin. based on their own experience, more than 20 Chinese diplomats, scholars, journalists and entrepreneurs depict and extol the China-Pakistan friendship from various perspectives and profiles. The book records touching stories of the people-to-people exchanges between China and Pakistan. In the form of words, it rolls out a vivid picture of China-Pakistan friendship from different times and perspectives. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain wrote a preface for the book. In the launching ceremony, President Sha Zukang, Ambassador Khalid,N Ambassador Lu Shulin and Deputy Director of China Intercontinental Press Yuan Lili delivered speeches respectively. President Sha Zukang together with Ambassador Khalid unveiled the new book.  

  On the 24th July, Mr. Xie Yuan, Vice President of Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries met with Ms. Sarah Kutulako, Executive Director and COO of Canada China Business Council(CCBC). Vice President Xie Yuan extended welcome to Ms. Sarah Kutulako and briefed him upon the people-to-people exchange activities between CPAFFC and Canadian local government and institutions from Canada as well. They also exchanged ideas on how to strengthen cooperation between CPAFFC and CCBC. Ms. Sarah Kutulako thanked Vice President Xie for his time and introduced the role CCBC plays in facilitating trade and investment between Canada and China. They would like to cooperate with CPAFFC in varied forms to promote practical cooperation between the two countries in terms of economy and trade. Mr. Zhang Heqiang, Director General of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs and Mr. Travis Joern, Managing Director, China of CCBC also attended the meeting.

  On July 24th, Vice President Xie Yuan met with Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Special Adviser of the Secretary General of the United Nations. Ms. Mohammed was previously Senior Special Assistant to three Presidents of Nigeria, mainly in charge of the promotion and implementation of Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria. She also served as Coordinator of the Task Force on Gender and Education for the United Nations Millennium Project. At present she is the Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015Development Planning. Vice President Xie briefed Special Adviser about the cooperation between CPAFFC and “Every Woman Every Child” (EWEC) project group in recent years, as well as the preparation we had done for EWEC China Partnership Network. Xie introduced that CPAFFC planned to launch the Network during Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s visit to China this September, hoping that the United Nations could support the Network with its rich resources in all governments, so as to establish a platform for cooperation among governments, institutions and enterprises. Mohammed said that she would urge the “EWEC” project group to work closely with the Network in order to make contribution to the health and well-being of women,N children and adolescence all over the world. The two sides also discussed about the arrangement of Chinese delegation’s attendance to the Summit in Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations this September. Deputy Director General of Department of American and Oceania Affairs Ji Yongjun attended the meeting.

  On July 22, at the invitation of Ambassador John McKinnon of New Zealand, Vice President Xie Yuan attended the welcoming reception for H.E. Jerry Mateparae, General Governor of New Zealand visiting China. Mr.Xie had friendly conversation with the General Governor and said that CPAFFC will further strengthen the people-to-people exchanges and cooperation as well as that of local governments between China and New Zealand. The General Governor expressed his good wishes for promoting cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, culture and education between the two countries. 

On July 21, H.E. Mr. Abdul’ahat Abdurixit, President of the Chinese-African People’s Friendship Association (CAPFA) met with H.E. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former President of Tanzania. Abdul’ahat said that China and Tanzania enjoy brotherly traditional friendship, which was established and nurtured by the old leaders of both countries. China is ready to work together with Tanzania to strengthen cooperation in all fields and promote the bilateral relations to a new level. Abdul’ahat also introduced CAPFA’s activities and exchanges with Tanzania inrecent years and expressed the wishes to further the cooperation between the friendship organizations and local governments. Mwinyi said that Tanzania and China have long history of traditional friendship which was established by the old leaders and developed by the two governments. Tanzanian people will always remember the support and help from Chinese people and will work together with Chinese people for the common development. Madame Lin Yi, Vice President of CPAFFC and  Executive Vice President of CAPFA attended the meeting.