On July. 21st, CPAFFC Vice President Song Jingwu met with Ms Poghosyan, Minister of Culture of The Republic of Armenia, who was paying her special visit to China to attend Armenia Culture Day events. Vice President Song extended his welcome to Ms Poghosyan for her visiting to CPAFFC, and introduced the basic status of that CPAFFC developing its works to Armenia in recent years. He also congratulated the minister on the success of Armenia Culture Day in Beijing.   Ms Poghosyan thanked Vice President Song for the meeting, and spoke highly of the CPAFFC’s contribution to art and cultural exchanges between China and Armenia. Mrs. Hu Chunmei, Associated Counsel of the Department of European and Asian Affairs attended the meeting. 

  Director General Zhang Heqiang of the Department of American and Oceanic Affairs of CPAFFC paid a visit to His Excellency Kujtim Xhani, Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to China in Beijing on July 21st. DG Zhang and Ambassador Xhani held a cordial talk on many matters. They both recognized the importance of carrying forward the Chinese fine tradition of Ping Pong diplomacy in the new era, and pledged a commitment of commemorating and reviving that tradition in various fashions in near future.

  The 15th Lecture Tour by African Ambassadors, sponsored by the CPAFFC and organized by Xining People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, was held in Xining, capital city of Qinghai Province on 21 July, 2015. H.E. Mr. Sasara Chasala George, Ambassador of Botswana to China, Mr. Simon P. A. Ajiku, counselor of Embassy of Uganda, Mr. Lovemore Matemera, Counselor of Embassy of Zimbabwe and officials from relevant department of Xining Municipal People’s Government and the businessmen totaling about 100 guests attended the function. Mr. Zhang Xiaorong, Mayor of Xining City introduced the economic and social development of Xining and its cooperation with Africa.   During the function, the ambassadors and diplomats introduced the overview of investment of their countries, expressed their hopes to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation with Xining and extended their warm welcome of Chinese businessmen to invest in Africa. They also exchanged views with the audience during the question and answer session. The delegation also paid a study visit to Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Carpets Group, Qinghai Sanjiangxue Food&Beverage Ltd. and Xining Baoyu Jade Ltd.   

Mr.Cheng Siwei, the 9th and 10th vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, president of China-Latin America and Caribbean Friendship Association, passed away at the age of 80 on July, 12th,2015. The remains of comrade Cheng Siwei were cremated at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery on July, 20th,2015. Mr. Xie Yuan, Vice President of CPAFFC attended the farewell ceremony. Cheng Siwei visited dozens of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean area during his more than 10 years’ tenure as president of China-Latin America and Caribbean Friendship Association. He made remarkable contributions to the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. His unfortunate death is a massive loss for the friendship cause among China and Latin America and the Caribbean. After the death of President Cheng Siwei, Latin America and Caribbean-China Friendship Federation and many other friendship associations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Honduras, Panama, Bahamas, Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Cuba,N Paraguay and so on sent their condolence letters.

Director General Zhang Heqiang of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs attended the 2015 Annual Conference of Sister Cities International(SCI) in Minneapolis, Minnesota from July 16 to 20, 2015, further promoting the exchanges and cooperation between CPAFFC and SCI. During the conference, he made a remark at the 2015 Annual Business Meeting, highlighting the continuous cooperation relationship between CPAFFC and SCI, and announcing the upcoming U.S.-China Sister Cities Conference to take place in Chicago from October 22 to 24 this year. He also encouraged all sides involved to actively participate in this event.  

  On July 18 2015, H.E. Mr. Zhang Gaoli, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, together with his delegation visited the Photo Exhibition on Ho Chi Minh and China-Vietnam Relations, which was sponsored by CPAFFC and Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) at Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi. CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin and VUFO Chairman Vu Xuan Hong accompanied Zhang Gaoli at the Exhibition. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Ho Chi Minh and 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Vietnam.  With more than 80 pictures, the Exhibition reflected the remarkable contributions made by Ho Chi Minh and advocated the traditional friendship between Chinese and Vietnamese people.  The Exhibition consists of three parts. Part I “Lay the Foundation of Friendship during Revolution”, recalls the initiation of “Comrade and Brother” friendship by Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong as well as other former state leaders of China. Part II “Inherit Friendship Tradition”, emphasizes the launching of the 16-Chinese Character Principle and “Four Good” Spirit by Chinese and Vietnamese state leaders in light of the changing situations in the world and region since 1990s, which has promoted the cooperation in various fields and the development of the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.  Part III “Deepen People-to-People Friendship”, reflects the positive role played by the non-governmental organizations in China and Vietnam for consolidating the friendship basis of public opinion following the trend of the development of bilateral relations.

At the invitation of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, the vice president Song Jingwu led CPAFFC delegation to visit Tokyo, Sapporo and other places in Japan from July 13 to 17. The delegation respectively met with President Kuroi Senji, Vice President Kurihara Komaki of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, Vice President Ikeda Hiromasa of the Soka Gakkai, Mayor Akimoto Katsuhiro of Sapporo and Director of Tsutsumi Sutsumi Takao of Japan Four Seasons Modern Art Gallery and held talks respectively with them and exchanged opinions on further strengthening people-to-people exchange and extensive cooperation under the current situation During their visit, the delegation met with Cheng Yonghua, the Chinese Ambassador in Japan, Sun Zhengyong, Consul General of the people’s republic of China in Sapporo.  

On July 17th, Mr. Ji Yongjun, Deputy Director General of American and Oceanian Department met with a delegation led by Mr. Elwood Donaldson, the Bahamian Ambassador to UNESCO. The both sides exchanged their opinions on the communication and development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, commerce, culture and tourism.  Mrs. Julie Campbell,N Charge’ d’affaires of the Bahamian Embassy to China participated in the meeting.  

On 15th, July, 2015, Chinese vice president Li Yuanchao met with the delegation of Japanese orphans of the Chinese Peopl’s war of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Li Yuanchao said, China and Japan both suffered from the War of Aggression of Japanese militarism in Modern times. After the war, Chinese people have brought up thousands of Japanese war orphans, which reveal the breadth of mind of Chinese people. Japanese war orphans also actively promote the friendship between China and Japan.  This year is the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Based on China-Japan the Four Political Documents, China will promote the improvement and development of friendship with Japan, in the spirit of learning from history and facing up the future. Japanese war orphans expressed that they will never forget Chinese people’s upbringing and loving kindness, and they will spare no effort to fulfill the wish that China and Japan can be friends forever. Li Xiaolin, president of CPAFFC, also attended the above meeting.

On July 15th, CPAFFC Vice President Lin Yi met with Kumba Momoh, Deputy Head of Mission of Sierra Leone Embassy in China. Mme. Lin welcomed Mme. Momoh to visit CPAFFC and introduced CPAFFC’s work on Forum on China Africa Local Government Cooperation (CALGC Forum), as well as its exchanges with Sierra Leone-China Friendship Association. She said that the CPAFFC hopes to further cooperation with the embassy to further promote the exchanges in all fields between the two countries. Mme. Momoh thanked Mme. Lin Yi for sparing the time to meet her. She also extended sincere thanks, on behalf of the Sierra Leone government, to the Chinese government and people for their contribution to fight against the Ebola disease. She said the embassy will continue to strengthen communication with CPAFFC, so as to promote friendly exchanges between Sierra Leone and China at all levels.