The opening ceremony of 2017 Program for Young Leaders from Pacific Islands Countries was held on the afternoon of May8^thin the International Countries Hall on the GDUFS North Campus.

Twenty-five young leaders from various fields from The Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoaand Vanuatu attended the ceremony, and they were met by LI Zhenghua, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province(GDFAO); JIAO Fangtai, Vice President of GDUFS; ZHOU Jijun, Secretary General of the Guangdong People's Association for Friendship with Foriegn Countries; CAI Hong, Chief of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, and LIANG Xuehong, Dean of the Institute for International Education.

LI Zhenghua gave a speech

First,LI gave a brief introduction of Guangdong Province, stating that Guangdong is the most populous and prosperous province in China with a GDP equaling that of Australia. LI also said being the pioneer of China’s reform and opening up, Guangdong has been active in overseas trade as one of the most advanced areas with great market vitality and investment attraction. In addition, LI stressed that Pacific Island Countries have a close tie with Guangdong Province, therefore LI appealed to all attendees to take a deeper insight of Guangdong in different ways such as series lectures, obile classes and discussions.

JIAO Fangtai gave a speech

JIAO said that the Program aims at carrying out The Belt and Road initiative raised by Chinese President, XI Jinping in order to enhance the cooperation relationship between China and the Pacific Island Countries. JIAO introduced the globalization progress of GDUFS, pointing out that GDUFS has been committed to training global-minded talents with high moral quality and strong innovation as well as practice abilities. GDUFS also intends to strengthen the academic communication and exchange on subjects like training talents with the countries along the Belt and Road through a number of major programs including Guangdong Institute for International Strategies and Collaborative Innovation Center for 21^st-Century Maritime Silk Road Studies.

Student representative Jennifer Kelly gave a speech

Jennifer Kelly is the executive producer of Media Group of Papua New Guinea, and also the student representative. She expressed thanks to GDFAO and GDUFS for their preparing and organizing efforts for the Program. She also said she cherishes this opportunity to study China’s unique culture as well as to further intensify the relationship between Pacific Island Countries and China.

Group photo

The Program was hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province and organized by Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. This is the sixth time that GDUFS has organized such a training program under the commission of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province.