On the morning of October 26, the Fifth China-Africa Youth Gala opened at the China Soong Ching Ling Youth Science and Technology and Cultural Exchange Center.
Sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the event is organized by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and the Jiangxi Provincial Government.
The theme is “Consolidating the Dream of Youth and Creating a New Era of China-Africa Relations—China-Africa Youth Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum” as the theme.
The China-Africa youth exchange platform continues the traditional friendship between China and Africa and creates a future for the common development of Chinese and African youth.
42 African youth representatives in China participated in this year’s China-Africa Youth Gala.
China Soong Ching Ling Foundation Chairman Wang Jiarui and Assistant Foreign Minister Deng Li attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Yu Qun, Vice Chairman of China Soong Ching Ling Foundation presided over the opening ceremony.
About 200 people including 34 African envoys or representatives in China, representatives of African students studying in China and Chinese youth representatives were invited to attend the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Wang Jiarui pointed out that this year is a special year.
The outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has made people all over the world withstand severe tests, and the world economy has also suffered a huge impact.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, China and Africa have always stood in the same boat and helped each other. On June 17, the leaders of China and Africa convened a special summit on China-Africa Unity and Fighting Epidemic through a video connection.
The meeting issued the “Joint Statement of the Special Summit on China-Africa Unity and Fighting Epidemic”, sending a strong voice of China-Africa unity and cooperation to the international community. China and Africa’s joint fight against the epidemic is a vivid practice of multilateralism in the field of public health, and it has set an example for global solidarity in fighting the epidemic.
Wang Jiarui said that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
As an important supporting event of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the China-Africa Youth Gala has been successfully held four times since 2016. With the joint efforts of all parties, the China-Africa Youth Gala has become an important platform and a resounding brand for Chinese and African youths to deepen friendship, exchange and learn from each other.
China Soong Ching Ling Foundation is named after Soong Ching Ling, the honorary chairman of the People’s Republic of China. Since its establishment in 1982, it has inherited Soong Ching Ling’s unfinished business, upholds the purpose of “Peace, Unification, and Future”, and is actively committed to expanding the Chinese people and the people of the world The exchanges between China and the rest of the world enhance the understanding and friendship between young people in China and the world. The China Soong Ching Ling Foundation will continue to work to enhance international friendship, promote people-to-people bonds, build more exchange platforms for Chinese and foreign young people, and make new contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Deng Li said that the China-Africa Youth Gala is the most dynamic brand event under the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum.
It is an important platform for Chinese and African youths to collide ideas, deepen understanding, learn from each other, and enhance friendship.
In the 20 years since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Africa relations have achieved a triple jump from “new partnership” to “new strategic partnership” to “comprehensive strategic partnership”, entering the best period in history, and political mutual trust has continued to deepen and be pragmatic. The cooperation is fruitful, the people-to-people exchanges are unprecedentedly active, and the international collaboration is even more tacit.
Young people are the participants and contributors of China-Africa cooperation, the witnesses and beneficiaries of China-Africa cooperation, and the inheritors and new forces of China-Africa relations.
Standing at a new historical starting point, the youth of China and Africa should continue to unite and cooperate, forge ahead, build the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation better, continue to deepen China-Africa relations, and inject the continuous development of China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership. new momentum.
Ambassador Rahmantala Mohamed Osman, Permanent Representative of the African Union Representative Office in China, said that since the establishment of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum 20 years ago, exchanges and cooperation between youth and women have always been the focus of the work of the Forum.
The two sides have long been committed to promoting Africa-China friendship through knowledge sharing, culture and experience exchanges between young people in various fields. The China-Africa Youth Gala is one of the important platforms.
The proportion of young people in African countries is high, with 60% of the population under the age of 25. Enhancing exchanges and exchanges between young people has become an important consensus among African and Chinese leaders.
The African youth representative, Suma from Mauritius, introduced his medical work in China and participated in the anti-epidemic volunteer service story and said that after the outbreak, China was the first country to provide assistance to Africa and donated medical supplies.
I went to African countries to share anti-epidemic experience and dispatch medical teams to help African countries, which was highly appreciated by African countries. The new crown pneumonia epidemic is a major test for the whole world.
It is believed that Africa-China cooperation can bring impetus to the world’s economic development, and Africa-China friendship can bring more vitality to exchanges between countries.
The heads of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the General Office of the National Committee of the
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the International Cooperation and Exchange Department of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, and the China Soong Ching Ling Youth Science and Technology and Cultural Exchange Center attended the event.
