Fostering Friendship Between Sichuan and Fryslan of the Netherlands

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At the invitation of the Sichuan Provincial Government, Sjoerd Galema, vice commissioner of the Queen in the Province of Fryslan of the Netherlands, led a delegation to visit Sichuan Province and attended the 9th Western China Economic and Trade Fair held from October 20 to October 27, 2008.

Since Sichuan and Fryslan established friendship-province relations in 2001, the leaders of both sides have made frequent visits. The Fryslan Government attached great importance to forging the link with Sichuan and bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, science and technology, culture and education, and has got substantial results. To express goodwill, the Fryslan Government presented three Fryslan horses as gifts to Sichuan in 2007. Now the three horses are living very well in a horse club of Chengdu. Mr. Galema is the new vice commissioner of Fryslan. This is his first visit to Sichuan and China

Zhang Zuoha, deputy governor of Sichuan met with Galema and his party. He expressed appreciation of Fryslan’s efforts to promote friendship between the two provinces. He hoped that the bilateral cooperation in agriculture would achieve good results. Qin Lin, president of the sichuan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SIFA), was present at the meeting.

Vice Commissioner Galema attended the reception jointly given by the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC and the Sichuan Provincial Government and made a speech at the Fifth International Tourism and Culture Promotion Conference sponsored by the CPAFFC. Before the conference Li Xiaolin, vice president of the CPAFFC, and Huang Yanrong, deputy governor of Sichuan, had a friendly talk with Mr. Galema. The delegation members participated in the opening ceremony of the Fair and the Western China International Cooperation Forum.

When the Wenchuan earthquake suddenly shook Sichuan, the fryslan Government was deeply concerned about it. At the early moment Mr. Galema sent a letter to Sichuan Governor Jiang Jufeng expressing condolence and sympathy. The Fryslan Government sent Mr. Postma, deputy director of Economic Department to Sichuan in July to make investigation. Postma visited the temporary office of Aba Teachers College which had been located at the epicenter and had to move to the rural suburb of Chengdu. He met with Jing Yaxin, secretary of the CPC committee of the college, and learnt of their huge losses. When Mr. Postma brought back the photos and reports on Aba College’s disastrous situation, the Fryslan Government decided to donate educational equipment to the college.

Mr. Galema and his party visited the temporary school of Aba Teachers College in Pixian County. At his meeting with the college leaders Mr. Galema extended salute to them and the teachers and students on hearing the State Council of China had honoured them as the National Heroic Collective. He announced Fryslan’s donation of 100,000 euro to the college for purchasing digital educational equipment and opening a new library. In addition he made a proposal on establishing sister relationship between Aba Teachers College and Fryslan College for conducting joint research in ethnic languages and culture. He visited the college’s photo exhibition of the earthquake and relief work, expressed solicitude to the teachers and students and praised their courage against the disasters and confidence in overcoming the difficulties.

Mr. Galema and his party visited the Memorial Hall of Wenchuan Earthquake and Relief Work at the Jianchuan Museum in Dayi County. He was shocked and greatly moved by those photos and objects collected from the seismic region. Tears filled his eyes. He wrote in the museum’s guest book to express his condolence for the dead and respect for the heroic people.

The delegation also visited the Sichuan Provincial Agricultural Academy and exchanged ideas with the academy’s leaders on jointly making research in potato improvement and processing. The delegation made a proposal to Sichuan Province for jointly establishing a training centre in Chengdu on water treatment and environment protection for which Fryslan agreed to provide 1.31 million euro.

Feeling satisfied with his visit to Sichuan, Mr. Galema said: “It is my first visit to China and Sichuan. I have never expected that in western China the economy is so vibrant and Sichuan has recovered from the earthquake so quickly. When Europe is facing economic crisis, I see vitality and hope in Sichuan, China. I am really reluctant to leave here, and I am sure to come back in future.”