“We are sorely attracted by the rich and colorful traditional culture of all ethnic groups in China. We now have a deeper understanding of the culture and harmonious coexistence of all Chinese ethnic groups, as well as the efforts of the CPC (Communist Party of China) for the common development of all ethnic groups. We are more an envoy of the People's Republic of China than an envoy of our own country”, Chanda Nsofu, PF Northern Province Youth Secretary and Political Consultant, as the representative of the participants, delivered a speech at the closing ceremony of the seminar.
From October 26 to November 8, 2022, Seminar on Ethnic Policy and Practice for BRI Countries organized by AIBO was successfully held online. Thirty one participants from five countries, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, South Sudan and Venezuela, gathered at the cloud side to learn the achievements and experiences of the unity and development of Chinese ethnic groups through 14 special lectures, 6 group discussions and exchanges and 2 online cultural tour activities, which have demonstrated the efforts China has made in promoting the development of ethnic work.
At 12:00 local time on November 8, Chanda attended the online closing ceremony of the seminar in Zambia, thousands of miles away from China, and expressed appreciation and gratitude for the two-week seminar on behalf of the participants from different countries.
Chanda, as a representative of seminar participants, is delivering a speech at the closing ceremony
The Chinese experience boosts me with great inspiration and encouragement
The greatest achievement made by China in ethnic work is that it has found a correct solution with Chinese characteristics for ethnic problems. Under the guidance of the correct ethnic policy of the CPC, all ethnic groups have achieved common prosperity and development, and built a common spiritual home for the Chinese nation with unprecedentedly high national self-confidence, pride and cohesion.
According to Chanda, handling ethnic issues well is of great significance for the stable development of a country, since ethnic issues involve the construction and unity of the country. With the desire to learn from the advanced ethnic policies and practical experience of different countries, he signed up to participate in this online seminar.
During the seminar, leaders of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission and well-known scholars from the Minzu University of China and other universities were invited to carry out special presentations, discussions and exchanges around such themes as strengthening and improving ethnic work, national unity and security, the construction of a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation, ethnic cultural policies, measures and practical achievements, and to jointly explore the development plan for the national policies and practices under the “Belt and Road Initiative”. Centered on the seminar topics, Chinese experts carefully prepared lessons and presented a comprehensive introduction to China's ethnic work with interactive questions and answers with participants.
During the seminar, Chanda actively participated in the lecture and actively interacted with the lecturer. He said that this seminar helped him with in-depth understanding of China and the “Belt and Road Initiative”, but also enriched him with a lot of advanced experience from China in ethnic policies and practices, poverty alleviation and others. He highly praised China's achievements in poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas, and believed that, for many countries, China's practices in poverty alleviation are worth learning from.
Following the seminar, Chanda had a new understanding of the ethnic work in China and Zambia. The culture of a country is a composite of the rich and colorful cultures of all ethnic groups. To unite all ethnic groups is to unite the whole country, to divide ethnic groups is to divide the whole country, and to develop all ethnic groups is to develop the whole country, according to Chanda.
Chanda (bottom right) is saying goodbye to the participants at the closing ceremony
“To Visit China is my greatest wish”
A life photo of Chanda Nsofu
Although Chanda has never visited China in person, his work is closely related to China. The memorandum of understanding signed by the CPC and the Zambian Patriotic Front has intensified the cooperation in technical assistance and cultural exchanges between the two sides, and for this reason, Chanda was offered the opportunity to participate in this seminar. Chanda said that his colleagues had, for many times, participated in capacity-building seminars organized by the Chinese government. His colleagues who visited China before the COVID-19 pandemic not only brought back Chinese souvenirs, but also China's advanced development experience for Zambia.
This seminar not only demonstrated China's rich and colorful ethnic culture, but also, through cloud tour, led participants to visit Tiananmen Square, the Palace Museum, the National Museum of Minzu University of China, etc. The participants were intrigued by delicious food, beautiful scenery and hospitable Chinese so that they are yearning for a visit to China. Chanda also expressed his expectation to visit China as soon as the pandemic was over, and to see the new development, new changes and new features of ethnic regions in China, and to experience China's social life in all aspects.
With the end of this seminar, Chanda's online trip to China drew to a successful conclusion. However, AIBO, MOFCOM, will continue to promote friendly and practical cooperation with other developing countries through the foreign aid training platform. Since the first foreign aid training program in 1998, AIBO has undertaken nearly 2,000 seminars for participants from developing countries, with about 56,000 government officials at all levels from more than 160 countries and regions, including more than 1,000 ministerial level officials. Against the backdrop of the global COVID-19, AIBO plays the leading and exemplary role of the national foreign aid training base, overcomes the difficulties, and in response to the expectations of developing countries, has taken the lead in holding the first national foreign aid online training program at the end of 2020, and opened a window for people around the world to know and understand China by providing continuous foreign aid training. In the future, AIBO will continue to improve the quality and level of the program, tell China's stories and spread China's voice well, actively share experience with other countries, so as to contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
