Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, President of China and Japan Friendship Association (CJFA), met in Beijing with Japan Association of Corporate Executives (JACE) delegation led by Mr. KOBAYASHI YOSHIMITS，Chairman of JACE and Chairman of the Board of Mitsubishi Chemical Holding Group on August 1st. The both sides exchanged views on China-Japan relations, Chinese economic situation, economy and trade cooperation of the two countries. President Tang extended his welcome to Chairman KOBAYASHI YOSHIMITSU for visiting China and congratulated on the 70th anniversary of the founding of JACE. He positively evaluated that JACE made important contributions to improving the bilateral relations for a long time and encouraged the Japanese economy industry to develop its technology and experience advantages, set a new growth point  of the economy and trade cooperation of the two countries, create a new situation of the win-win cooperation between China and Japan, and enhance the regional cooperation and prosperity of the East Asia. KOBAYASHI YOSHIMITSU said that since JACE founded  70 years ago, it had been positively engaging in the exchange and cooperation of the two countries. He expressed that they have confidence in the Chinese economy. The visiting to China this time was to put emphasis on studying the sectors of Chinese IT, internet, virtual economy and etc.. They also planned to have an in-depth discussion with Chinese professional personages and relevant institutions to expect to strengthen the mutual beneficial cooperation in the fields of new economy and others, so as to promote the relations of the economy and trade between China and Japan forward.

The Embassy of Japan in China held a farewell meeting in Beijing for the Chinese youth delegation and college graduates village official delegation in the evening of August 1st. Mr. Song Jingwu, the Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and head of the delegation, Mr. Wang Zhanqi, Deputy Secretary-General of China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA), Mr. YAMAMOTO TAKASHI, Minister of the Embassy of Japan in China, attended the meeting.       Mr. Song Jingwu, the Vice President of CPAFFC and head of the delegation, delivered a speech Vice President Song Jingwu thanked the Embassy of Japan in China for giving support and assistance to this visiting. He said that China and Japan are close neighbors. Promoting the mutual understanding and friendly feeling of the two peoples, especially among the youth, is an important basis for further improving the bilateral relations. The both sides should know each other correctly, comprehensively and objectively by the way of the extensive and thorough exchanges. CPAFFC and CJFA are willing to continue pushing the friendship of the people-to-people and the exchanges of the youth. On behalf of the Japanese government, Minister of Japanese Embassy, Mr. YAMAMOTO TAKASHI extended his warm welcome to the delegations for friendly visiting. He wished the visiting a complete success and thanked CPAFFC and CJFA for making efforts and contributions to promoting the youth exchanges of the two countries. Mr. YAMAMOTO TAKASHI, Minister of the Embassy of Japan in China, delivered a speech A total of 95 people in the Chinese youth delegation, who came from Beijing municipal civil servant at the basic level, economy circle and medical staff. There are 92 people in the Chinese college graduates village official delegation, who came from Beijing, Hebei and Chongqing. At the invitation of the Japanese government, the two delegations would visit Tokyo, Kyoto-fu, Yamanashi prefecture, Nagano prefecture and other places respectively from August 2 to 6, and from August 2 to 9. They would visit and study the facilities in their own relevant sectors and had friendly exchanges with relevant Japanese people.

On 25th July, Mr Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) met with Mr. Maris Selga, the Ambassador of Latvia. Vice President Song expressed his welcome to Mr. Selga for his visiting, and introduced the main functions of CPAFFC. Mr. Selga believed that twinning sister cities could be the potential of the bilateral relations. Otherwise, the Ambassador would like to expand more cooperative fields with the assistance of Mr. Song and CPAFFC. The two sides also discussed about the issue of the Celebration of 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Baltic Countries and China in this September. Mr. Andzejs Kasevskis, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia, Mr. Lv Hongwei Deputy Director General of the Department of European Affairs of CPAFFC, attended the meeting. 

The opening ceremony of “China Arab Friendship Youth Ambassadors Program 2016” was held in Beijing on July 20th. Lin Yi, vice president of CPAFFC, Mona Saad, chief coordinator of Arab China Friendship Association Federation, youth representatives from 8 countries, Chinese students from Arabian Language departments from more than 10 universities, Ambassadors and diplomatic officers from some Arab States, media representatives, amounting to 120 persons were present. After the opening, China and Arab youth had a friendship dialogue on the subjects of mutual concern. “China Arab Friendship Youth Ambassadors Program 2016” is jointly held by CPAFFC and Arab China Friendship Association Federation. Around 50 youth from Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Algeria, Oman, Libya, Morocco and Egypt, attended the activities. The one-week program is to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between China and Arab, and to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and Arabian younger generation.

Mr. Wang Zhengwei, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, met with our Lebanese friend Mr. Adnan Kassar, Chairman of the Fransabank Group, at the Great Hall of the People on 19th July. Vice Chairman Wang Zhengwei recalled his visit to Lebanon last May when he met Mr. Kassar for the first time. He congratulated Mr. Kassar on being conferred the “China Arab Friendship Outstanding Contribution Award” and having the opportunity of taking a photo with President Xi Jinping of China on that occasion. Vice Chairman Wang appreciated Mr. Kassar for his outstanding contribution for the development of China-Lebanon, as well as China-Arab friendship over the past decades, and hoped that the Lebanese side could actively participate in the “Belt and Road” construction, to further enhance China-Lebanon, as well as China Arab friendly cooperative relations. Mr. Kassar thanked Vice Chairman Wang Zhengwei for sparing time for this meeting out of his busy schedule. He and his brother Mr. Adel Kassar have been dedicating to the friendship-with-China cause throughout their life. From his first visit to China as a 23 year-old young man when first landed in China till now as an old man of over 80 years old, Mr. Kassar has always been devoting to the development of relations between China and the Arab countries, as well as the whole world. Being conferred the “China Arab Friendship Outstanding Contribution Award” and met by President Xi this January is the most important honor of his lifetime. He wished that cooperation in the fields of trade, finance, and culture could be ever strengthened between China and Lebanon. He also conveyed greetings from Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Saeb Salam to Vice Chairman Wang Zhengwei, and welcomed Wang to visit Lebanon again.  CPAFFC Vice President Lin Yi and Lebanon Charge D'Affaires Hatem Nasrallah were present at the meeting.  

Urban innovation Practices Exchange workshop was held in Beijing from July 18th to July 19th in Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries 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, and promoting the best practices of urban innovation in the world. Mr. Song Jingwu, the vice-president of CPAFFC and Mr. Liu Baochun, the director general of Guangzhou foreign office attended the meeting and delivered a speech.  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. Its third session officially kicked off in November, 2015. To date, 389 applications  from 217 cities around the world are received. The third session of Guangzhou Award ceremony hosted by CPAFFC and Guangzhou Municipal government will be convened this December. 

Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of CPAFFC, met on July 17th in Beijing with Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, former Japanese Prime Minister who attended the fifth World Peace Forum in Beijing. Vice President Song Jingwu first conveyed CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin’s greetings to Mr. Yukio Hatoyama. Vice President Song said that Mr. Yukio Hatoyama is an old friend of China. He has always paid great attention to China and Japan relations whether when he was the Prime Minister, or was not in the post. Especially in recent years when the bilateral ties confronted with difficulties, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama always upholds justice and speaks out for the Sino-Japanese friendship and greatly promoted the exchanges and cooperation in various fields between the two countries with the spirit of peace and love. Vice President Song hoped that Mr. Yukio Hatoyama would continue concerning about and supporting the development of the bilateral relations and the friendly people-to-people exchanges of the two countries.  Mr. Yukio Hatoyama expressed his appreciation for it. He said that at present, there are still unstable factors in the world, the terrorist attacks threaten to the people’s security, the conflicts and struggles between the regions become more and more serious and dangerous. He hoped that the people should adhere to the spirit of peace and love to solve the problems by the mean of dialogue. He also felt appreciation for CPAFFC which has been engaging in promoting the friendly exchanges of the people-to-people with Japan under the leadership of President Li Xiaolin and is willing to work together with China to improve the bilateral ties in future.

  From July 15 to 16, 2016, CPAFFC Vice President Xie Yuan led a delegation to attend the 60th Annual Conference of Sister Cities International(SCI), and the commemorative activities. Totally 400 people from the U.S. and over 10 countries participated in the conference. The attendees had in-depth discussions on topics such as smart cities and international cooperation, sister cities and global security, economic benefits of sister city relationship, etc. The Chinese Embassy in the U.S. and the government of Washington D.C. co-hosted a reception marking the 60th anniversary of SCI during the conference. Vice President Xie Yuan, Minister Li Kexin of the Chinese Embassy, Assistant Secretary of State Evan Ryan, President Mary Kane of SCI, Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington D.C. gave remarks at the opening ceremony or reception. Zhang Heqiang, director general of the Department of American & Oceanian Affairs, CPAFFC spoke at the concurrent session “The Etiquette of Diplomacy: A Discussion on International Protocol” as a panelist.  In his remarks, Xie Yuan thanked the U.S. State Department and SCI for their efforts in promoting China-US sub-national and sister city cooperation. He said that, as an important entity of global cooperation, city successfully linked the relations between nations and peoples after the World War II. Sister city movement has won great support from the Chinese national government. China-U.S. sub-national cooperation has been very active during recent years, with many sister cities carrying out productive cooperation in broad areas. The CPAFFC has worked with American organizations like SCI to implement several China-U.S. sub-national exchange mechanisms, among which the Third China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference is going to be held in Nanchang, Jiangxi this November, with the theme of healthy cities. All sectors from the two countries are welcome to join this conference.  Mary Kane said that as an oldest organization in the U.S. engaged in people-to-people exchanges, SCI has been dedicated to the exchange and cooperation between the U.S. and other countries in such areas as economy and trade, education, culture, environment, youth, as well as promoting understanding and peace through people-to-people activities. She announced that July 15 is “The day of SCI” across the U.S, and hoped conference attendees to deepen sister city exchanges in their respective countries and regions, with the U.S.  The U.S. Department of State, SCI and Washington D.C. government highly appraised the CPAFFC on its indispensable role in promoting U.S.-China sub-national and sister city exchanges. They hoped the two sides continue their efforts to make more achievements in this area, to benefit two peoples. CPAFFC group also held  meeting with leadership of SCI and reached consensus on working together to make the Third China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference a great success.   SCI was founded in 1956, on the initiative of then U.S. President Eisenhower, and is an important partner of CPAFFC in conducting China-U.S. sub-national cooperation. 

On July 13, the Second Exchange Meeting of Chinese-Japanese Entrepreneurs held in Beijing. The meeting is held by CPAFFC and Kansai Economic Federation. About 120 representatives of Chinese entrepreneurs from Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangdong, delegation of Kansai Economic Federation, and representatives of Japanese entrepreneurs in Beijing attended the meeting. They fully exchanged their opinions on cooperation in environment protection and tourism.  Vice President Song Jingwu attended the meeting and made a speech. In the speech, Vice President Song said, Chinese-Japanese economies are highly complementary, and have great potential for development. If the political interference can be overcome, deep cooperation will benefit both countries’ and the world’s economic recovery. It is expected that entrepreneurs from two countries can speak their mind, seek common development, and enjoy the achievements together. It is also hoped that the entrepreneurs could work together for the two countries’ development in economy and relationship.   MATSUSHITA MASAYUKI said, the exchanges between China and Japan in various fields are inseparable. As the second and third largest economy in the world, both countries have great influence in Asia-Pacific. Although difficulty appears in the development of political relationship between the two countries, the entrepreneurs should have a long-term vision, and further their cooperation, to contribute to the economic development of two countries, as well as that of the whole Asia-pacific. At the invitation of CPAFFC, Kansai Economic Federation delegation paid a visit to China from July 12 to 15.After the visit in Beijing, the delegation will go for Shanghai for further communication.

On July 12, Vice President Mr Hu Sishe met with Mr Kurt Karst, former managing director of Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. At the meeting, they exchanged in-depth views on Chinese traditional music ensemble’s visit to Germany this fall, and cooperations in the next two years. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Villa Musica, and witnesses its friendship with the CPAFFC exceeding two decades. At the invitation of Villa Musica, the CPAFFC will send a group from Heilongjiang National Music Orchestra to tour in Germany this October, amid which Vice President Hu will pay a goodwill visit in celebration of the organisation’s 30th birthday. Mr Karst, who also serves as the president of Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Chinesische Freundschaft Mainz-Wiesbaden (Mainz-Wiesbaden German-Chinese Friendship Association), discussed with Mr Hu about the cooperative plans with the CPAFFC in the coming years. They agreed on facilitating mutual exchange visits by Chinese and German modern painters, the exhibition of their works, and the concerts hopefully to be staged in China by a German ensemble Mainzer Virtuosi.