2022 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week kicks off

GUIYANG, China, Aug. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report by Huanqiu.com:

The opening ceremony of the 2022 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week (CAECW) kicked off both online and in person in Guizhou province, on August 23.

Themed "Jointly Building an Amicable Home for a Colorful Future", the 2022 CAECW is jointly hosted by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and Guizhou Provincial People's Government.

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan delivered a speech via video link at the opening ceremony. Sun stressed that the CAECW has developed into the most typical inter-governmental platform for educational cooperation between China and ASEAN, making significant contributions to people's well-being, the people-to-people exchanges as well as the development of bilateral relations of all countries in the region.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the CAECW. Over the past 15 years, the CAECW has played an active role in promoting high-quality exchanges and cooperation between China and ASEAN. So far, the CAECW has attracted more than 30,000 attendees from over 50 countries and regions, promoted nearly 2,000 cooperation agreements or memorandums of cooperation to be signed, and carried out over 400 projects and activities.

"China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to take the 15th anniversary of CAECW as a new starting point and jointly map out and chart the course of education development and cooperation towards 2030", Sun said, calling for the two sides to promote the construction of a more innovative, inclusive and sustainable China-ASEAN education community.

Li Bingjun, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee and Governor of Guizhou Province, pointed out in his speech that Guizhou will keep making use of CAECW to further the practical cooperation with ASEAN to share the benefits of building the Belt and Road. Li added that Guizhou would continue to play the role as the host home of CAECW and make efforts to improve the CAECW from good to better and expand the cooperation and development between China and ASEAN.

Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio, Vice President of the Philippines and Secretary of the Philippine Department of Education, said in her speech via video link that the Philippines supports the partnership in the areas of talent cultivation, research, collaboration, digital education, and people-to-people exchanges towards building an inclusive, sustainable and more innovative ASEAN-China education community.

Bin Chhin, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister in charge of the council of ministers, applauded China's role in promoting the development of ASEAN human resources, especially that of Cambodia. The CAECW, he said, has provided an excellent opportunity to enhance mutual understanding and strengthen friendship between China and ASEAN countries.

According to Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, the CAECW has become a high-level platform for promoting people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between China and the ASEAN countries. He hoped that the two sides will further enhance practical cooperation in exchanges of students, teaching and research personnel, and mutual recognition of academic qualifications.

The ASEAN-China Smart Education Institute in Colorful Guizhou and China-ASEAN TVET Consortium were inaugurated respectively at the 2022 CAECW opening ceremony.

From August 22 to 28, the 2022 CAECW will hold 37 activities during the week and other 57 are scheduled to be carried out throughout the year. All the projects of 2022 CAECW focus on sustainable education cooperation, educational exchanges and cooperation in the post-pandemic era, youth innovation and entrepreneurship, and cross-cultural exchanges of young people.

The 2022 CAECW is expected to set up China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting mechanism on education, and to better share the development experience and outcomes in basic, vocational and higher education.

The CAECW will provide platform for the China-ASEAN TVET Consortium and continue to implement the "Zhi & Xing Guizhou" Silk Road Youth Exchange Program to promote exchanges among international youth.

About 2,400 attendees from China, ASEAN countries, and other Belt and Road countries attended the 2022 CAECW either online or offline.

The CAECW, which started in 2008, has developed into a high-end education-themed platform for people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN countries and a solid bridge that makes positive contributions to China-ASEAN relations.