On June 23, Bai Yuzhen, Director-General of Ningxia Foreign Affairs Office (NXFAO) and Executive Vice President of Ningxia People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, attended an online liaison meeting on international youth exchange mechanism of the nine provinces (autonomous regions) along the Yellow River and delivered a speech. Yuan Mindao, Vice President of Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, delivered a keynote speech. Over 200 officials and representatives from foreign affairs offices and people’s associations for friendship with foreign countries of Shandong Province, Shanxi Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Henan Province, Sichuan Province, Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province and Qinghai Province attended the meeting.

Bai Yuzhen congratulated on the opening of the liaison meeting. She said that General Secretary Xi Jinping cares about the young people greatly, as they are champions of world peace and development. He entrusted Ningxia with the grand mission of building the Pilot Zone for Ecological Conservation and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin. The 13th Ningxia Congress of the CPC drew up the blueprint for the building of a new modern socialist Ningxia, which would be underpinned by the development of the pilot zone. NXFAO has been fully implementing the important remarks and instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping in recent years. Fully leveraging the role of people-to-people exchanges and prioritizing youth exchanges, it has staged the Ningxia International Youth Friendship Camp and other distinctive youth exchange programs, which has helped enhance mutual understanding among people of Ningxia and other places, particularly among young people.

Bai hoped that the liaison meeting would serve as an opportunity to strengthen coordination among provinces (autonomous regions) along the Yellow River. She also expressed that Ningxia stands ready to tell the stories of the Yellow River and China to the world and contribute to the building of the Pilot Zone for Ecological Conservation and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin.

Attending officials signed the Consensus on Setting up International Youth Exchange Mechanism of the Nine Provinces (Autonomous Regions) along the Yellow River on the liaison meeting.