House Education Committee discusses strengthening cooperation and young people exchanges with China

Members of the House Education Committee and a delegation of young people from China have discussed the strengthening of bilateral cooperation and exchanges between young people from China and Cyprus.

The 23 October discussion took place in the framework of the China-Cyprus Youth Exchange Week 2024 on the theme "China and Cyprus: cooperation for a Common Future".

In his introductory remarks, Committee Chairman Pavlos Mylonas spoke about the encouraging messages regarding relations between the two countries that emerged from the recent visit of the House President Annita Demetriou to China.

In his intervention, Chinese Ambassador to Cyprus Liu Yantao described the visit of a high-level delegation of the House of Representatives to China as a great success, adding that 18 events and activities took place in four days, many of which were of cultural and educational nature.

He added that the Embassy of China in Cyprus, the Embassy of Cyprus in China and the Nanjing Municipality are organising the Cyprus-China Youth Exchange Week and the 3rd Youth Forum within the framework of the bilateral strategic partnerships and the twinned cities network of the two countries, with the support of the Ministry of Education, the European University, as well as the Education Committee.

He also said that the activities of the cultural week started yesterday, while this afternoon begin the forum's discussions on three topics, mutual learning of cultures, digital reform of industries and green development, which he said are also on the China-Europe and China-Cyprus agendas.

He added that tomorrow morning is scheduled the keynote speech of the forum, which will be attended by representatives of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth and the Government, and will close with the Nicosia Communiqué on China-Cyprus 2024 relations.

For his part, the head of the Chinese delegation and a member of the Nanjing People's Congress said the city with a population of 12 million was one of the first Chinese cities to open access to foreign markets.

He also described it as a city of opportunity, as it has 51 universities and colleges with 1 million students and more than 10 thousand high-tech companies, 113 of which are among the world's top 500.

As the third city in China in the education sector behind Beijing and Shanghai, we wish to promote cooperation in education and youth exchanges for a new dynamic in our strategic relationship, he said, adding that a second area of cooperation is in tourism where, he noted, Cyprus and Nanjing as popular destinations can cooperate and grow their tourism markets.

He added that a third area of cooperation is that between the legislative bodies, which he said would build on the already very good relations between the House of Representatives and the Central People's Congress of China, while expressing the local Congress' desire to encourage talks with parliamentarians and exchanges with young people and women, as well as sharing experiences in terms of legislative work and parliamentary scrutiny.

He concluded by wishing that the cooperation and exchanges between twinned cities and young people of the two countries would lead to more and greater achievements.

Finally, Mylonas reiterated that the committee would seek further exchanges on youth education issues and regular communication through the Chinese Embassy with the corresponding committee of the Nanjing local parliament.

(Source: CNA)