A youth delegation from Bangladesh recently visited Beijing, China to enhance cooperation and ties between the youth of both the countries. The tour, held from 22-28 September 2016, was jointly facilitated by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Dhaka and the Centre for Research and Information (CRI); and hosted by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) with support from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
To further build youth cooperation, the delegation had a number of meetings and roundtable dialogues with various organizations such as the Zijinghua Technology Incubator, Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, Beijing Volunteer Service Federation (BVF), and the China Soong Ching Ling foundation (CSCLF). Through these meetings, youths from both countries had opportunities to share their knowledge, experiences, activities and learning, where Young Bangla was also mentioned. The delegation got to know how the Beijing Volunteer Service Federation (BVF) and their volunteers are working in the Beijing municipality. The dialogue with Zijinghua Technology Incubator and Central Committee of the Communist Youth League were the interactive sessions to explore further opportunities for cooperation on youth development of both countries. Some of the areas identified for future cooperation include: people to people exchange; volunteer exchanges; internships; training and conferences; investment for start-ups mainly in such sectors as agriculture, ICT and medical science sectors as well as skill transfer in technology, innovation and business entrepreneurship.
As part of the tour, the delegates visited some historical and prominent places; such as the Tian’anmen Sqaure, Jingshan Park, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Great Wall of China, Tianjin City, Chinese universities like Tsinghua University and China University of Mining and Technology and the show of acrobats at the Chaoyang Theatre in the last day. 10-12 Chinese volunteers accompanied them during visits and also helped them to know more about Chinese culture, tradition and society.
The delegation comprised of a young team with 9 members that includes respectively three Joy Bangla Youth awardees: Faima Khatun (Founder SHUKTARA), Kumar Bishwajit Barman (Founder, Ashar Alo Pathshala), Muhon Rabidas (Founder, Jagoron Youth Forum), three representatives from Young Bangla Network Partner Organizations: Sadequa Hassan Sejuti (Managing Director, Future Solutions for Bangladesh), Sabiha Saju Ibne Abedin (Member Secretary, United Nations Youth and Student Association, Bangladesh), Abdullah Md Shukrana (General Secretary, Bangladesh Debate Federation), two CRI representatives working on youth mobilization and creative material development: Priyanka Chakma (Senior Program Coordinator, CRI), Shibu Kumar Shill (Assistant Coordinator-Creative team, CRI), and a young activist lawyer named Nadia Chowdhury.
