About 1,500 Vietnamese and Chinese youngsters gathered at the opening of the Vietnam-China Youth Festival at the Friendship border gate on August 25. The Vietnam-China Youth Festival opened in China’s Guangxi province on August 25, which expects to attract more than 7,000 Chinese delegates along with 3,000 Vietnamese youths in activities spanning eight Chinese cities over five days. Among those present were representatives and senior officials from Vietnamese and Chinese Communist Youth Unions and China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region. During the festival, themed “Vietnamese and Chinese youths join hands to foster friendship”, the youths will take part in a variety of activities, including afforesting, building a friendship wall, and holding a friendship forum for Vietnamese and Chinese youths. The aim is to strengthen mutual understanding and trust between the two countries’ young generations.

Festival activities will take place in Liuzhou , Guilin , Beihai, Quinzhou, Fangcheng Port , Baise, Chongzuo and Nanning.

The five-day festival is expected to attract the participation of more than 32,000 young people from both countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties and the Vietnam-China Friendship Year 2010.

A delegation of Vietnamese youth led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Lam Phuong Thanh, presented US$30,000 to flood victims of in Gansu Province, China on August 26.

While staying in Nanning city for the Vietnam-China Youth Fesitval, the delegation met with the staff of the Vietnam Central Boarding School, which is the largest Vietnamese training centre outside Vietnam.

During the 1951-1958 period, the Centre received about 4,000 teachers and more than 3,000 students from Vietnam.

PV