Visiting African youth group urges more Sino-African exchanges

BEIJING—Members of an African youth delegation to China said they hoped that more Sino-African exchange activities could be organized to enhance mutual understanding.
“We heard about China in the media all the time, but still had not thought China would be like this, and we are totally amazed,” said Nada Bahgat of the Industrial Training Council of Egypt.
“There should be more exchange programs between China and Africa, because African countries can learn a lot from China’s development,” she said.
The 100-member African youth delegation was invited by the All-China Youth Federation. During their stay in Beijing, they visited companies, residential communities and the Great Wall.
They also met Xu Jialu, vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
Most of the African team members, who are civil servants, reporters, and college student leaders, have never been to China before.
“China is doing great, when the world thought it was nothing,” said Fredalet Thiart from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, after visiting a Huawei Technologies subsidiary in Beijing. “Like the Huawei company, it achieved so much by hard work, and there is so much we can learn.”
She said the trip was a real eye-opener and being just 18 years old, she was lucky to have the opportunity to join the trip. “I am going to submit a report to the university, but it will not be just about what we see or hear, it’s more about what we can learn,” she said.
The delegation wrapped up its three-day visit in Beijing and will continue the tour in south China’s Nanning and Guangzhou cities, where they will meet Chinese students.
During a visit to Africa in February this year, Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed to invite 500 African young people to visit China from 2007 to 2009. This 100-member delegation was the first group to visit China as a result of that proposal.

—The Daily Mail, China Daily news exchange item