The One Belt, One Road Sino-Ukrainian youth forum, connecting Yangtze and Dnieper, held on the last day of the “Belt and Road Sino-Ukrainian Cultural Exchange Week”

   The first OBOR Sino-Ukrainian youth forum, connecting Yangtze and Dnieper, was held on April 29 as the closing event of the “Belt and Road Sino-Ukrainian Cultural Exchange Week”. Ambassador of China to Ukraine Du Wei, Honorary Chairman of the Silk Road Cities Alliance and former Minister of Health of China Zhang Wenkang, Assistant Director of China Center for International Youth Exchanges and Minister of the Belt and Road Business Division Jia Tiesong, Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sport Mr. Zhdanov, Advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Vitrenko, as well as representatives of Ukrainian and Chinese youth, media and from other spheres, Diaspora of Chinese in Ukraine (DCIU), overseas students and volunteers etc. – all together more than 200 people participated the event.

   The Yangtze River is China's mother river. It is a cradle of the splendid traditional Chinese culture and Chinese vibrant youth spirit. The Dnieper River is the mother river of the Ukrainian nation. It has witnessed nearly one thousand years of Ukrainian history, beginning from the Kievan Rus’ to recent Ukrainian history. It has also witnessed the tenacious spirit of the Ukrainian youth. The symbol of this youth forum is uniting Yangtze and Dnieper rivers. It is aimed at promoting and deepening friendship between the two countries in the future as we move further after marking 25 years of establishing diplomatic ties between China and Ukraine, pushing forward two countries youth’s joint discussion about building new future.

   Du Wei, Ambassador of China to Ukraine, said in his speech that we anchor our hopes and the future of our two countries on Chinese and Ukrainian youth. Today, we pass the Sino-Ukrainian friendship torch to the hands of the young generation, hoping that using fine traditions of the older generation as their basis, Chinese and Ukrainian youth will develop into a wise and intelligent new generation, investing their knowledge and skills into promoting friendly communication between the two countries, sparing no effort to create the foundation for another, more successful and brilliant 25 years of Sino-Ukrainian relations.

   Mr. Kyrylenko, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, sent his congratulatory letter wishing the Youth Forum a complete success. Mr. Zhdanov, Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sport, said that young people are the driving force for innovation and also the hope of each nation. Their success will be the future success of both nations. The Youth Forum is an excellent opportunity for the youth in Ukraine and China to exchange their ideas, increase mutual understanding and deepen friendship. He believes that this event will give new impetus for the development of relations between the two countries.

   Zhang Wenkang, Honorary Chairman of the Silk Road Cities Alliance and former Minister of Health of China, said in his speech that young people are the hope of a country, the future of a nation, main force of the Sino-Ukrainian communication and the spirit of innovation. This Youth Forum has become the grand finale of the “Belt and Road Sino-Ukrainian Cultural Exchange Week” and displayed the importance of youth for the Sino-Ukrainian relationship. We are looking forward to seeing the strengthening of youth exchanges between these two countries, establishing platforms for cooperation, deepening communication between young politicians, specialists and youth organizations in political, economical, commercial, scientific and cultural spheres, contributing every effort to deepening friendly relations between Ukraine and China.

   Representatives at the forum held discussions on job opportunities for youth, East-West dialogue, youth entrepreneurship and employment, healthy lifestyles and other subjects. Representatives of the All-China Youth Federation, Director of the Confucius Institute, Hao Guixiu, Director of Quick Chinese, youth representatives of Huawei, representative of China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC), Wang Jing, Director of the International Liaison Department of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies with Project Manager Nong Qin and other representatives of Chinese youth met with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, scholars from Ukrainian Association of Sinologists and youth representatives of Ukrainian enterprises. All together they discussed about cooperation and communication exchange between the youth of the two countries in various spheres.

   After the forum, the closing ceremony of the “Belt and Road Sino-Ukrainian Cultural Exchange Week” took place, marking the successful conclusion of the event. At the closing ceremony, the Qimingtang School of martial arts presented their martial arts performance. Students from Ukraine and China also presented lively artistic performances, adding colour and vigour to the closing ceremony.

   Afterwards, the Chinese embassy in Ukraine held a reception for the Chinese delegation that participated in the “Belt and Road Sino-Ukrainian Cultural Exchange Week”. His Excellency Ambassador of China to Ukraine Du Wei expressed his appreciation for the success of the event, and his gratitude to the Silk Road Cities Alliance for their good organization. He added that, as one of the biggest events between China and Ukraine recently, the “Belt and Road Sino-Ukrainian Cultural Exchange Week” will surely become a new platform and will bring new opportunities for further communication between the two countries.

   Written by Xu Yue (Silk Road Cities Alliance)