On 1 August 2016, the Opening Ceremony of the 9th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week (CAECW) & the 2nd China-ASEAN Education Ministers Roundtable Conference was held in Guiyang, Guizhou Province of China. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos, the rotating presidency of the ASEAN, sent congratulatory letters to the Week. Vice Premier Liu Yandong made a keynote speech. Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Secretary Chen Min’er, Cambodian Vice Prime Minister Sok An, Vice Prime Minister of Thailand Prajin Juntong, Indonesian Minister of Coordinating Ministry for Human Development Puan Maharani, UNESCO Assistant Director-General Tang Qian also addressed the ceremony. Over 1,400 guests attended the opening ceremony of the Education Cooperation Week themed "Education First, Make Dreams Come True Together". H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the ceremony upon invitation and had interactions with the participants.
Education Minister of China Mr. Chen Baosheng and Minister of Education and Sports of Lao PDR Mme. Seangdeuane Lachanthaboune read out the congratulatory letters of Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith respectively.
In the letter, Premier Li Keqiang said that people-to-people exchanges, including education exchanges, are emerging as a new pillar for China-ASEAN relations and showing broad prospects. China is willing to work with ASEAN to provide more talent and intellectual support to each other to boost a closer China-ASEAN community of shared destiny. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith spoke highly of the fruitful achievements of ASEAN-China cooperation, and the significance of the 9th CAECW held in the year marking the 25th ASEAN-China dialogue relations and the Year of ASEAN-China Educational Exchange. He said that Lao PDR, as the rotating President of ASEAN, will continue to support and promote ASEAN-China education cooperation, deepen people-to-people exchanges and facilitate in-depth development of ASEAN-China strategic partnership.
In her keynote speech, Vice Premier Liu Yandong said, in recent years, China and ASEAN countries have gradually deepened communication and cooperation in various fields, with education cooperation as one of the highlights. Both sides have hosted Education Cooperation Week for eight consecutive years, and have signed nearly 800 cooperation agreements, forging a resounding brand of people-to-people and cultural exchanges. China and ASEAN countries can draw on each other's advantages and share resources for mutual benefit and win-win results in education. First, the two sides can improve the cooperation mechanism to serve the docking of strategies of both sides. Second, the two sides can build characteristic brands to expand the influence of the cooperation week. Third, the two sides can enrich forms of exchanges to lift the level of practical cooperation in such areas as basic education, vocational education and linguistic education. Fourth, the two sides can enhance youth exchanges, forge the updated version of the China-ASEAN program of Double 100,000 Goal of Student Mobility and set up a China-ASEAN Maritime Silk Road scholarship.
In their remarks, Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Secretary Chen Min’er, Cambodian Vice Prime Minister Sok An, Thail Vice Prime Minister Prajin Juntong, Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Human Development Puan Maharani, UNESCO Assistant Director-General Tang Qian said that education was an important foundation for development of social civilization and have prominent and realistic significance for the improvement of people’s well-being. Based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, ASEAN and China should further strengthen policy communication, increase contacts of educational institutions and think tanks, promote teacher-student exchanges, joint research, vocational training and mutual recognition of academic credentials and degrees, so as to further deepen bilateral education exchanges and cooperation.
The 9th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week (CAECW) & the 2nd China-ASEAN Education Ministers Roundtable Conference were sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Guizhou Provincial People’s Government of China, and were co-organized by the Department of Education and the Foreign Affairs Office of Guizhou Province, ACC, and SEAMEO. The 9th CAECW is themed "Education First, Make Dreams Come True Together". It has been identified as one of the flagship projects of the ASEAN-China Educational Exchange Year and listed into one of important commemoration activities of the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations.