On November 10th , hosted by CPAFFC, CIFCA and Chongqing Municipal People’s Government, undertaken by Chongqing Foreign Affairs Office, 2016 China International Friendship Cities Conference was successfully held in Chongqing. Mr. Sun Zhengcai, Secretary of CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Mr. Li Yuanchao, Vice President of China, Mr. Sun Zhengcai, Secretary of CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Mr. Huang Qifan, Mayor of Chongqing, Madame Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC and CIFCA, Mr. Zhang Ming, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, Mr. Edward Ssekandi, Vice President of Uganda,  Mr. Hatoyama Yukio, former Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Willem Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, etc. attended the conference and delivered speeches respectively.  In response to President Xi Jinping's proposal for friendship cities work, Mr. Li Yuanchao made three suggestions: firstly, increase exchanges among friendship cities and deepen people’s friendship; secondly, share experience in urban planning and promote innovative development of cities; thirdly, expand win-win cooperation and share fruits of urban civilization. Madame Li Xiaolin pointed out that friendly exchanges between local governments are the cornerstone for the establishment of friendly relations between countries. As an important way for exchanges with foreign countries, China international friendship cities activities have opened channels for Chinese local governments to establish long-term, stable and extensive connections with the international community. At present, countries around the world share prosperity and security and stick together through thick and thin, growing into a community of common destiny. CPAFFC and CIFCA will continue to use their own advantages to promote the establishment of friendship city relations, and at the same time, make efforts to improve the quality of friendship city exchanges, and take focused as well as targeted methods to promote the healthy, rapid and sustainable development of international friendship cities activities.  More than 400 foreign delegates from 56 countries, 144 cities as well as 51 city organizations, and over 200 Chinese delegates from 107 cities of 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions attended the conference. With the theme of “Innovation for Development and Cooperation for Sharing”, theme forums on “Innovation-led City Development”, “Low Carbon City and Green Home”, “City Cultural Branding through Opening up”, and “Tourism Innovation, the Incentive to Modern Service Industry” were held at the conference. Also, signing ceremony of newly twined friendship cities was held and the “Chongqing Initiative” was issued. Chinese and foreign friendship cities which had made outstanding contributions to the course of friendship cities in the past two years were awarded at the conference as well. The China International Friendship Cities Conference is held every two years and embraces its fifth this year. The next conference will be held in Wuhan. 

The CPAFFC, Chongqing Municipal People’s Government and the Ugandan Embassy to China jointly held the “Investing in Uganda--Promotion Conference” in Chongqing on November 10, 2016. H.E. Edward Ssekandi, Vice President of Uganda, Mme. Lin Yi, Vice President of CPAFFC, Mr. Liu Guiping, Deputy Mayor of Chongqing and around 100 businessmen from Chongqing attended the Conference. H.E. Edward Ssekandi delivered a keynote speech. The officials from Uganda Export Authority and Uganda Investment Bureau gave detailed introduction about Uganda’s investment policy and environment, which attracted great interest of the businessmen present at the conference.

On November 10, 2016, Chinese Vice President H.E. Mr. Li Yuanchao met with his Ugandan counterpart H.E. Mr. Edward Ssekandi, who attended the China International Friendship Cities Conference 2016 in Chongqing. Li said that China-Uganda relations have enjoyed sound and stable development since the diplomatic relationship was established more than 5 decades ago. China has designated Uganda as an important country for China-Africa production capacity cooperation, and is willing to help Uganda to serve as model by taking the lead to achieve industrialization as an inland country of Africa. We hope to unswervingly develop the friendly relationship so as to benefit the two peoples. Ssekandi said that Uganda cherishes its friendship with China and appreciates the support and assistance from China in Uganda’s development. Uganda is ready to work with China to further promote Uganda-China friendship. CPAFFC President Mme. Li Xiaolin, Vice Foreign Minister Mr. Zhang Ming and Vice Party Secretary of Chongqing Municipal Committee Mr. Zhang Guoqing were present at the meeting.

On November 9, the China-Vietnam People’s Friendship Meeting jointly hosted by CPAFFC and Vietnam union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) was held in Hanoi, Vietnam. H.E. Mr. Zhang Dejiang, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and Chairperson of NPC Standing Committee, who was on an official friendly visit to Vietnam, and Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Member of the Vietnam Communist Party Central Committee Political Bureau and Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front People’s Committee attended the meeting and delivered speeches respectively. CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin and VUFO Executive Vice President Don Tuan Phong co-hosted the meeting. The theme of the Meeting is “Promoting Friendly Cooperation and People-to-People Exchanges between China and Vietnam Local Governments”. The participants included Mr. Mao Chaofeng, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Hainan Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor of Hainan province, Vice Governor Wang Shujian of Shangdong province, Vice Govenor Zhang Xiaoqin of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Vice Governor Lan Fo’an of Guangdong Province, Vice Governor Yang Hongbo of Sichuan Province, Vice Governor Gao Shuxun of Yunnan province and Mayor Zhou Hongbo of Nanning city from China and leaders of Hanoi city, Ho Chi Minh city as well as the provinces of Lao Cai, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Nghe An, Khanh Hoa and Quang Ninh from Vietnam. Chairperson Zhang Dejiang said that to deepen the friendly exchanges and expand the comprehensive cooperation between China and Vietnam is conducive to the strategic interests of the two sides. China and Vietnam should enhance the people-to-people exchanges and promote the cooperation at the local government level to cement the foundation of people’s support for the bilateral relations. The provinces and cities from both countries especially the neighboring ones should make full advantages of their geographic locations and conduct the cooperation in a broader range and step up efforts in cooperation between friendship provinces and cities. The friendship associations from the two sides should set up more innovative and pragmatic platforms in this regard. Zhang Dejiang hoped that the relevant government organs, local governments and personnel from all circles would make the concerted efforts to strengthen cooperation, further people-to-people friendship and build up a closer China-Vietnam community of common destiny. Nguyen Thien Nhan said that Vietnam and China are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers and the amicable feelings between the two peoples enjoyed a time-honored history. The Vietnam side has always attached great importance to the Vietnam-China relations and is willing to inherit and strengthen the traditional friendship and carry it forward to a bright future. Nguyen Thien Nhan said that the provinces and cities of the two countries should take this meeting as a good opportunity to enhance the mutual understanding and trust, expand cooperation in economic and trade, investment, tourism and so on, and contribute to bringing the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level. Leaders from Chinese and Vietnamese local governments introduced the current situations of bilateral cooperation with their counterparts and expressed the willingness of more mutual visits, more economic and trade cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and establishment of friendship provinces and cities between the two sides. On the evening of November 8, President Li Xiaolin and Chinese local government leaders also attended the welcome banquet in honor of Chairperson Zhang Dejiang hosted by Mme. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam.

The First China-Latin American Local Governments Cooperation Forum was held in Chongqing on November 9th, 2016.The First Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum was held in Beijing on January 8th and 9th, 2015. Through equal and friendly consultations, the two sides have considered to adopt the China-Latin American and Caribbean Countries Cooperation Plan (2015-2019), which aims at promoting complementary advantages, pushing forward the exchanges in the fields of trade, industry, tourism, humanities and etc., achieving mutual benefit win-win results and common development. Around 200 people including foreign representatives from 15 countries, 20 cities and 15 international and regional organizations such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico, and Chinese representatives from 15 provinces, cities and districts, attended the forum. Mr. Xie Yuan, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), Mr. Liu Guiping, Vice Mayor of Chongqing, Mr. Edgar Dikan, Minister of Regional Development of Suriname and other guests delivered speeches respectively at the opening ceremony. Governors, mayors and representatives from 8 countries such as Argentina, Mexico and etc. made speeches respectively on the themes of the management of the cities, the cooperation of friendly cities and other topics in the two thematic sessions. The forum achieved a complete success.

On November 8th, 2016, the Fifth China India Forum was successfully held in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, India.This Forum was hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the China India Friendship Association and Podar Enterprise of India, organized by International Business Linkage Forum and Beijing Fortune Plus Culture Communication. Madam Lin Yin, Vice President of the CPAFFC, Mr. Sui Zhongcheng, Vice Governor of Jilin Province , Mr. Zhang Maocai, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, Mr. Sun Xiaodong, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of Gansu Provincial People's Congress, Mr. Wang Jincai, Chairman of the Standing Committee of Hangzhou Municipal People's Congress, Mr. Li Baijun, Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in India , as well as Mr. Singh, Rajasthan Industrial Minister, Mr. Desai, Maharashtra Industrial Minister, Mr. Deepak, President of India Merchants Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Rajiv, President of Podar Enterprise and Mr. Sandeep, Executive Director of International Business Linkage Forum attended the Forum. Vice President Lin Yi made a speech at the Opening Ceremony. She said that the river of China India friendship runs a long course from a remote source, our cooperation is experiencing a rapid development since the 21st century. For two large countries with emerging markets, the economic and trade cooperation between China and India has boundless potentiality. Therefore, we should grasp the opportunity of regional cooperation among BRICS countries, the opportunity of complementary advantages and the opportunity of scale economy, so we could make progress with joint efforts. Mr. Singh, Rajasthan Industrial Minister, warmly welcomed Chinese enterprises to invest in Rajasthan, and mentioned that since China and India are neighbors and both are large countries undergoing fast economic development, the two sides should strengthen exchanges to fully display complementary advantages and pragmatic cooperation. Mr. Rajiv, President of Podar Enterprise expressed his willingness to continue working with China to build a better platform for China India communication, thus making contributions to exchanges and cooperation in various fields.    The theme of this forum is “Decade of Golden Era Ahead”. Six sessions were designed for representatives from China and India governments and enterprises to share their views and put forward suggestions by making speeches. These sessions were Made in China, Made in India, Infrastructure Construction, Exchanges on Travel and Culture, Bank Investment and Financial Cooperation and Sharing the New Development of Electronic Commerce. In order to promote mutual investment and set up good examples of well-performed enterprises, the CPAFFC held a “Chindia Model” honoring ceremony during the welcome banquet on November 7th. Six Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. as well as six Indian companies including Mahindra Group and Infosys Technologies were awarded. Moreover, this Forum set up nomination awards for five companies including Zoomlion and Hikvision.

On Nov.7th, the 1st China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Seminar on Education and Culture, cohosted by CPAFFC and UIBE, was held in Beijing. The Seminar was attended by many officials, scholars, diplomats and entrepreneurs from Portugal, Brazil and Macao and representatives from six universities in China, including H.E. Mr. Bendito dos Santos Freitas, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Timor-Leste to PRC, Claudio Puty, former Deputy Secretary of the Brazilian Department of Labor and Social Security and Tomaz Ponce Dentinho, professor from the University of the Azores. CPAFFC Vice-President Hu Sishe and Mr. Wang Chengan, former secretary general of Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Macao) addressed the opening ceremony.  CPAFFC Vice-President Hu Sishe addressed the Seminar Vice-President Hu Sishe said that China and Portuguese-speaking countries account for 17% of the global economy and 22% of the world’s population. He hopes that the Seminar can become a platform for people to exchange their ideas, a base for schools to share their resources and a window for cultural exchanges between our two sides. The CPAFFC will as always endeavor to promote exchanges in culture and education so as to create more opportunities for mutual learning and cooperation in a wide range of areas such as the cooperation at the local level.  The Opening Ceremony  Former Secretary General Wang Chengan said that UIBE has had frequent academic exchanges with over 30 universities and institutions abroad and sent students both undergraduate and postgraduate abroad for further study or short-term exchanges. He hopes that the Seminar can help advance exchanges in areas such as culture and education between our two sides.   Tomaz Ponce Dentinho, head of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries Delegation, said that the two sides should further strengthen efforts in faculty training and exchanges among students.  Xinhua News Agency, China Today and China Radio International covered this event. When the Seminar concluded, the delegation also paid visits to Communication University of China, Beijing International Studies University and Chinese entrepreneurs.  Visit Communication University of China Visit Beijing International Studies University  Discussion with Chinese Entrepreneurs 

In the morning of November 7th, Mr. Hu Sishe, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with Mr. Jeffrey Thomason, CEO of the Association of Accountants and Financial Professions in Business and his delegation in CPAFFC. The both sides exchanged views on how to promote the cooperation of accountants and financial professions of the two countries and also other sides. 

Co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA), the People’s Government of Hunan Province (PGHP) and Japan-China Friendship Association (JCFA), and organized by Hunan People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (HPAFFC), the fifteenth China-Japan Friendly Exchange Conference was held in Changsha, Hunan Province on November 7th. More than 230 people including Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, President of CJFA, Mr. Xu Dazhe, Acting Governor of Hunan Province, Mr. Xiang Lili, Vice Governor of Hunan Province, Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of CPAFFC, Mr. UICHIRO NIWA, President of JCFA, Mr. TETSUO SAKAI and Mr. TOKUICHIRO UTSUNOMIYA Vice Presidents of JCFA and representatives from nongovernmental organizations of the two countries and local associations for friendship with foreign countries, attended the conference. President Tang Jiaxuan stressed in his speech at the opening ceremony that the curren t cause of China-Japan friendship is not only the extension of the two thousand years history of the friendly exchanges between the two countries, but also relates to the happiness of the generations to come. Therefore, the two countries should overcome difficulties and firmly promote the bilateral relations with confidence. Whatever the situation is, the two countries could not forget the original purpose of friendship, could not abandon the idea of friendship and lay down the flag of friendship. President Tang Jiaxuan said that people-to-people friendship is always the unique advantage and important support for China- Japan relations. Every time the bilateral ties confront with difficulties, the non-governmental friendship organizations of the two countries always adhere to the original purpose and promote and protect the general situation of the friendly relations of the two countries. Next year will mark the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties and the year next, the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of treaty of peace and friendship between China and Japan, which is a rare historical opportunity for improving the bilateral relations. The nongovernmental organizations of the two countries should actively take this opportunity and make a plan as soon as possible to further strengthen the people-to-people friendly exchanges of the two countries and make new efforts to develop a better future for China and Japan relations.   Acting Governor Xu Dazhe said that Hunan province has always kept frequent exchanges and close cooperation with Japan in the history. Since 1982, Hunan province has successively established friendship provinces/prefectures relationship with Hiroshima prefecture and Tokushima prefecture. 11 pairs of friendship cities were established. Hunan province will take this conference as an opportunity to further deepen the friendly exchange and economic and trade cooperation of both sides. It strives to promote mutual understanding, build mutual trust and develop friendship during the exchange and cooperation. President UICHIRO NIWA said that, as the second and third largest economic entities in the world, Japan and China keep a good relationship and strengthen the cooperation, which are not only beneficial to the development of the two countries, but also are beneficial to the peace and stability of Asia and the world. At present, it is worried that the feelings of the two peoples have not been improved even if the bilateral relations get better. Both sides should review the original purpose of keeping friendly relations which produced in the period of signing four political documents and should take the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China and Japan diplomatic relations as an opportunity to greatly develop the exchanges between the two peoples and the locals, and to enhance the public mutual trust and friendship, so as to lay a solid foundation for the long-term sustainable development of the bilateral ties.     As the representatives of the two organizations hosting the conference, CPAFFC Vice President Song Jingwu and JCFA Vice-President TOKUICHIRO UTSUNOMIYA respectively made reports on the theme of inheriting the tradition of the friendship, inspiring the vitality of the people. They summarized the results had achieved in the nongovernmental exchanges of both sides since the fourteenth Osaka Conference. The representatives from the two countries held friendly and exciting discussions in their own group meetings on the topics of how to enhance the mutual trust and friendship of the two peoples, expand the youth exchange and strengthen the local pragmatic cooperation and etc. They also held an in-depth discussion on how to make the friendly development plan of the non-governmental organizations China-Japan friendly exchange conference was founded in 1983. It was a working conference for the two non-governmental friendly organizations which was commonly initiated and held by Mr. Liao Chengzhi, then the CJFA President and Mr. TOKUMA UTSUNOMIYA,then the JCFA President. This conference aims at strengthening the friendly cooperation of the two countries, commonly discussing the new issues of the bilateral relations and creating a new prospect of the nongovernmental exchanges between China and Japan. The conference is held in two countries every other year in turn.

On Nov. 7th, Vice President Xie Yuan met with Ms. Cindy Termorshuize, Chargé d’Affaires of Canadian Embassy to China. Vice President Xie Yuan welcomed Ms. Cindy Termorshuizen to our association. He introduced the feedback of our visit to Canada in mid October, including the progress of China Canada Provincial Leaders’ Exchange Mechanism and the preparation of 5th China Canada Cultural Dialogue in 2017. Chargé d’Affaires Cindy expressed her appreciation towards the contribution CPAFFC has made on promoting the local government and people-to-people exchanges between Canada and China. She said that the embassy would continue its communication with Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to further promote and support the above-mentioned programs. Deputy Director General Hao Zhongwei and Associate Counsel Xu Fenghua of Department of American and Oceanian Affairs presented at the meeting.