The 3rd Urban innovation seminar was co-held by Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Guangzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Asia-pacific Innovation Economic Research Institute of Guangdong in Beijing from April 24 to 25 with the purpose of enlarging the eye scope of Chinese cities for international exchanges, increasing their knowledge to the rules and procedures of international organizations and awards, especially the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (Guangzhou Award) and promoting the best practices of urban innovation in the world. Madam Lin Yi, the Vice-president of CPAFFC attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Representatives from 8 cities, including Guangzhou, Harbin, Shenyang, Wuhan, Ji'nan, Nanning, Xiamen and Yiwu, attended the seminar.  The Guangzhou Award is the first international award named after Chinese city. This biannual award solicits urban innovation practices of cities and local governments around globe and its fourth cycle officially kicked off at the beginning of this year. At present, all preparation and accept applications are well underway. The fourth cycle of Guangzhou Award ceremony hosted by CPAFFC, Guangzhou Municipal government, UCLG and Metropolis will be convened this December.           Photographed by Ren Xin and Hong Tianshi  

Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with and hosted a banquet for outgoing Georgian Ambassador to China Aptsiauri on April, 23rd. Vice President Song Jingwu spoke highly of the contributions Ambassador Aptsiauri had made to promoting the cooperation between China and Georgia in various fields during his tenure and great support Ambassador Aptsiauri had given in the friendly exchanges of the peoples of the two countries. Vice President Song also wished Ambassador Aptsiauri success in his new post. Ambassador Aptsiauri reviewed the situation of the bilateral relations, especially the activities CPAFFC organized, during his tenure in China. He also exchanged views with Vice president Song on how to further develop the friendly relations between Georgia and China. Mr.Vasilii Babunashvili, Minister of Georgian Embassy in China, Mr.Kalandia, Senior Counselor of Georgian Embassy in China, attended the meeting.       Photographed by Chen Lei

On April 20th, the Press Conference of “the Chinese Cultural Series Meet China in Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Karl Marx’s Birth” (shortened as Meet China) was held in Trier, Germany. Meet China is a large-scale cultural exhibition series jointly held by the CPAFFC, General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (German: Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe, or GDKE) and Federation of German-Chinese Friendship Association (German: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher China-gesellschaften, or ADCG). CPAFFC Vice President Hu Sishe, State Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Lifelong Learning and Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate Dr.Salvatore Barbaro, Director General of GDKE Thomas Metz, Trier City Mayor Wolfram Leibe, official from the Ministry of Science, Lifelong Learning and Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate Dr. Stefanie Hahn, President of ADCG Kurt Karst, together with representatives from IHK Chamber of Industry and Commerce Rheinland-Pfalz as well as Chamber of Trade attended the press conference. The event was moderated by Director General of GDKE Mr. Metz.   Guests Deliver Speeches Vice President Hu stated that we hope this exhibition can present humanity history, natural scenery and local customs with Chinese imprint to our foreign friends, showing the audience a China with openness and inclusiveness, with modernness and prosperity and with harmony between people and nature. Though separated by numerous hills and streams, through the exhibition series our friends can understand China, get closer to China and love China. Dr.Salvatore Barbaro pointed out in his speech, “cultural exchange is an important element of popular understanding. We are glad that our Chinese partners present these exhibitions in the birthday year of Karl Marx in Trier and give visitors diverse perspectives of China.” Trier City Mayor Wolfram Leibe and President of ADCG Kurt Karst deliver speeches as well.  Press Conference on Site Jointly launched by Jiangxi, Beijing, Shandong, Qinghai, Chengdu of Sichuan Province, Baoshan of Yunnan Province and Shaoxing of Zhejiang Province, the Chinese exhibition series is going to be held in Marx’s hometown, Trier from 1, June to 30, September. Journalists from Germany, along with Xinhua News and Huanqiu attended and covered the press conference.   Links: Xinhua News：http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2018-04/21/c_1122719303.htm?from=singlemessage&isappinstalled=0  German Volksfreund：https://m.volksfreund.de/region/rheinland-pfalz/ausstellungsreihe-in-trier-china-praesentiert-sich-zum-200-geburtstag-von-karl-marx_aid-17648123       Photographed by Liu Jiayun

On April 20, Vice President Lin Yi met H. E. U Tein Sein, Former President of Myanmar, who was on a visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA). Vice President Lin Yi firstly conveyed the greetings by President Li Xiaolin to Former President U Tein Sein and thanked his great support to the people-to-people friendship during the Presidency. She introduced the exchange programs co-hosted by CPAFFC and Myanmar-China Friendship Association(MCFA) and expressed the willingness to make concerted efforts with the Myanmar side to enhance the inter-connectivity between the two peoples in terms of culture, youth and charity fields. U Tein Sein said that Myanmar and China enjoyed time-honored traditional friendship and the leaders of the older generations established deep and profound friendship, which need to be inherited and carried forward by the younger generations. U Tein Sein hoped that the friendship associations from the two countries could continue to cooperate for more people-to-people exchange programs and let the bilateral friendship be deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples. Mme.Ou Boqian, Vice President of CPIFA was present at the meeting.   Photographed by Zhan Xiushuang      

On April 19, at the invitation of H.E.Mme.Vandy BOUTHASAVONG, Ambassador of the Laos to China, Mr.Wu Tao, President of the China-Laos Friendship (CLFA) Association and CPAFFC Vice President Lin Yi attended the activities in celebration of the Songkran Festival and the 57th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Laos-China Diplomatic Ties hosted by the Embassy. President Wu Tao thanked Ambassador Vandy’s warm invitation and gave the best wishes to the Lao friends for the Songkran Festival. Wu Tao said that General Secretary Xi Jinping’s first foreign visit after the 19th National Congress of CPC included the Laos, which showed the great importance attached to strengthening the good neighborhood and friendship and promoting the strategic cooperation between the two countries. The CLFA is willing to join the hands with the comrades from Laos to implement the important consensus of the leaders between the two parties and countries and deepen the people-to-people traditional friendship. Vice President Lin Yi said that CPAFFC and CLFA valued the friendly cooperative relations with the Embassy of the Laos in China and will make continuous efforts with the Embassy to push forward the inter-connectivity between the two peoples especially the young people. Ambassador Vandy thanked CPAFFC and CLFA’s contributions to the development of bilateral relations. She said that the Laos and China are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers and the two peoples keep friendly exchanges for generations. The exchange and cooperation in people-to-people or public diplomatic field are not only the important foundation of the bilateral ties, but the motive force to implement the Laos-China“Four Goods”spirit, namely be good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners. The Lao Embassy will continue to conduct close cooperation with the Chinese side to further the development of bilateral relations as well as the relations between the two peoples.   Photographed by Zhou Xiaodan and Xu Yiyi

The China-Japan Friendship Spring Tea Party, co-hosted by the CPAFFC, the China-Japan Friendship Association and Urasenke (one of the three historical schools of the Japanese tea ceremony), was held in Beijing on April 17, 2018. Tang Jiaxuan, President of the China-Japan Friendship Association, attended the tea party. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the CPAFFC, Daisosho SEN Genshitsu, the 15th Urasenke iemoto (head), and Shikata Noriyuki, Minister and DCM of the Embassy of Japan in China, addressed the tea party. Liu Deyou, former Vice Minister of Culture, gave a keynote speech titled “Tea: The Bond of the Chinese-Japanese Culture”. Vice President Song Jingwu said that China and Japan are geographically close and share similar cultures. In more than 2,000 years of friendly exchanges, the tea culture has become a popular common asset shared by the two peoples and an important carrier of cultural exchanges between China and Japan. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The China-Japan relations have shown an excellent momentum and are facing an important opportunity for further improvement and development. In such a memorable year, it is wonderful and meaningful for friends from all walks of life to enjoy tea, talk about friendship and pray for peace together. Both China and Japan are important countries in Asia and the world, shouldering the responsibility of maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and the world. We should continuously strengthen the cultural ties, expand friendly exchanges and promote the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations, contributing to the establishment of a community with a shared future for mankind and playing the role as peacekeepers and promoters of peace. During the opening ceremony, Daisosho SEN Genshitsu of Urasenke dedicated the tea in prayer for Japan-China friendship and world peace. He said that tea is a symbol of peace and an envoy of culture, and expressed his willingness to continue to be committed to the ideal of “spreading peace through a bowl of tea”, further the people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Japan and China and work together with friends from all walks of life to contribute to the development of friendly relations between Japanese and Chinese people. More than 100 people from all walks of life from China and Japan, including friendly personnel and media representatives, participated in the event.       photographed by Huang Xiaowei

On April 16, Vice President Lin Yi met with Dr. Muhd Firdaus Bin Abdul Rahman, President of Brunei-China Friendship Association (BCFA). Lin Yi congratulated Dr. Muhd Firdaus to be elected as the President of BCFA and said that CPAFFC is willing to conduct more projects in tourism, youth and E-Commerce with BCFA to promote the people-to-people inter-connectivity between China and Brunei. President Muhd Firdaus briefed the organization of the new council of BCFA and responded that BCFA will deepen the exchange and cooperation with CPAFFC to push forward the Brunei-China as well as ASEAN-China people-to-people friendship cause.   Photographed by Wu Jiong

On the afternoon of April 16th, Hu Sishe, Vice President of CPAFFC, accepted Global Times’ exclusive interview on the topics of “Culture Confidence”and “ Chinese Culture Going Globally”. Vice President Hu took the forthcoming Chinese Cultural Exhibition Series Meet China -- in commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of Karl Marx’s Birth in Trier as the starting point,  then elaborated the concept, achievement and plan on cultural exchanges of CPAFFC.   photographed by Wang Qing

China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development (CFFPD) and Rotary District 3450 Charitable Fund Ltd. of Hong Kong signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing on April 16, 2018. Li Xikui, Secretary General of CPAFFC and Chairman of Board of the CFFPD, and Hing Wang Fung, District Governor of Rotary District 3450 attended the ceremony. Secretary General Li Xikui welcomed the delegation of Rotary District 3450 Charitable Fund Ltd., and introduced the main functions and work fields of the CPAFFC and the CFFPD. He said that the Foundation would provide more resources and opportunities to join hands with Rotary District 3450 Charitable Fund Ltd., so as to jointly conduct domestic and international cooperation and exchanges in the field of charity. DG Hing Wang Fung expressed his hopes that the two sides would strengthen cooperation in health care, education, campus water purification and other fields of charity and social services in the future. CFFPD Deputy Secretary General Deng Lan and DG Hing Wang Fung signed the strategic cooperation agreement.   Rotary International is an international non-profit, non-political and non-sectarians voluntary service organization originated in Chicago, which has a history of 113 years. Rotary District 3450 Charitable Fund Ltd. is a member of Rotary International. It was established in Hong Kong in 2004 and is responsible for public charity businesses in Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong Province and Mongolia.   Photographed by Jia Ji

On April 13th, the press conference of the Chinese Cultural Exhibition Series Meet China -- in commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of Karl Marx’s Birth was held in the Peace Palace of CPAFFC. Vice president of CPAFFC Hu Sishe attended the conference and delivered a speech. Hu Zhiyang, Deputy Director-General of Jiangxi Provincial Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Ji Wei, Deputy Director-General of the Cultural Exchange Department of CPAFFC, Stefanie Hahn, Head of Division of the Cultural Heritage of Rheinland-Palatinate of the Ministry of Science, Lifelong Learning and Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate, Zou Bing, Representative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Rhineland-Palatinate Representation office in China, and representatives of our co-organizers from Jiangxi province, Beijing, Shandong province, Qinghai province, Chengdu of Sichuan province, Baoshan of Yunnan province, and Shaoxing of Zhejiang province also attended the press conference. Vice President Hu noted in his speech, the exhibition series taking the theme of Meet China, will show the audience a China with openness and inclusiveness, modernization and prosperity, and where people live in harmony with nature. Ms Hahn noted, the exhibition series will enrich the cultural events in Trier and will find great interest among the locals and visitors in Trier.  The exhibition series, jointly sponsored by CPAFFC, German Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz (GDKE, Directorate General Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate) and Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher China-gesellschaften (ADCG, Federation of German-China Friendship Association), will be held in Trier , Karl Marx’s hometown. More than 20 well-known medias including Xinhua Agency, China Daily, Global Times Network, CRI Online, Beijing Television and Finacial Times participated in and reported the press conference.   Photographed by Li Zhe