Guiyang, New Zealand city to boost educational exchange

Guiyang Education Bureau hosted a symposium with an education delegation from Palmerston North city on May 31, 2019, and promoted new possibilities and discussed the approaches for the sister cities’ future cooperation.

Lu Ming, supervisor of Guiyang Education Supervisor Office, welcomed the visiting delegation led by Tangi Utikere, deputy mayor of Palmerston North City Council, and reviewed the two cities’ education cooperation. 

The delegation members included Xander Burns, deputy consul general of New Zealand in Chengdu, and Ye Fangmin, senior education director of New Zealand Education International Promotion Bureau.　

Present at the event were Liu Song, vice-president resident of the Guiyang People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; Zhang Yi, director of the Adult Education Department of the Guiyang Municipal Education Bureau; and responsible persons of Guiyang University, Guiyang Vocational and Technical College, Guiyang Nursing Vocational College, Guiyang Preschool Education College.

The educational exchanges have been evidently improved, since the signing of the Letter of Intent on Cooperation in General Education, Professional Research, Expert Consultation and Vocational Training in 2017, according to Lu.

Lu stated that the Letter of Intent laid a solid foundation for the cooperation, exchange, and mutual visits in terms of education between Guiyang and Palmerston North.

The Guiyang colleges and universities and the visiting delegation discussed in-depth on the topics including mutual development and cooperation model, and shared promising vision of deepened cooperation. The both parties also proposed new possibilities for future cooperation in education and teaching research, vocational training, overseas study consultancy among other aspects.

As part of the plan, Guiyang University and Guiyang Nursing Vocational College planned to visit Palmerston North this year to settle the cooperation details.

Palmerston North, as New Zealand's seventh-largest provincial city, has signed an agreement on establishing sister city relationship with Guiyang in 1992. 

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the establishment of sister cities between Palmerston North and Guiyang.

Over the past 27 years, thanks to the joint efforts, the two cities have carried out practical cooperation in the fields of characteristic agriculture, modern animal husbandry, agriculture-related technical training, culture, and education, and harvested economic and social benefits.

Tangi Utikere, deputy mayor of Palmerston North city in New Zealand, gives a speech at the symposium in Guiyang city, capital of Guizhou province, on May 31, 2019. [Photo provided to english.guiyang.gov.cn]