New Council Member Speaks on Foreign Exchanges at the 2022 Annual Conference of the 3rd Council of Dongguan People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

东莞市友协第三届理事会2022年工作会议上新增补理事对于对外交往的经验分享。

Dear government officials,

Dear business fellows,

Distinguished guests,

尊敬的各位领导，各位商界朋友，各位嘉宾，大家好！

I’m truly honored to be speaking in front of all of you today as a representative of the new members of the Dongguan People Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

今天，我很荣幸作为东莞市人民对外友好协会新一届理事代表在此发言。

I’m also very appreciative of the Dongguan government for taking such an initiative and for opening its doors to international companies such as mine - Companies who, in the process of helping in showcasing Dongguan to the world, also get to share in the prosperity that China is increasingly becoming synonymous with.

非常感谢东莞市政府的支持，为我们这些国际企业提供机会，向世界展示东莞，分享中国的繁荣成果。中国也日益成为繁荣的代名词。

On our side of things, my company specializes in international exchanges, whereby we organize sports training exchanges for students in Dongguan and abroad. We also bring in foreign experts, organize camps and also strive to build a multicultural environment - an environment that allows people from different countries to collaborate with each other, ensuring that they get to see diversity and differences as strengths rather than as weaknesses.

我司主要从事国际间交流合作，组织东莞和国外的学生进行体育培训交流。 我们还引进外国专家，通过组织夏令营，努力搭建多元文化环境，让来自不同国家的人相互交流，以便他们将多样性和差异化视为优势而不是缺点。

Last year, our company played a role in the sister city agreement between Dongguan City and Pancevo City, Serbia. This agreement was officially signed in September of 2021, and hailing from Serbia myself, one could only imagine the joy that I felt when an agreement was signed between a city where I’m born and a city from my adoptive home. This is also the same joy I felt when back in 2020, we helped Serbia, both via donations as well as via humanitarian support, to aid the country in tackling the effects of the Covid19 pandemic. In my view, actions such as these continue to show that the Dongguan people are full of goodwill and that they stand ready to help other countries when these countries are in need.

去年，我司参与促成东莞市与塞尔维亚潘切沃市签署友好交流合作备忘录。 这份协议于 2021 年 9 月正式签署，我来自塞尔维亚，我为我出生的城市与我发展的城市结好而感到无比的喜悦。同样的喜悦我在2020年时也感受到，当时我们通过捐赠和人道主义援助助力塞尔维亚共同抗击新冠肺炎疫情。在我看来，这样的行动体现了东莞人民的友善，体现了东莞人民与其他国家“守望相助”的情谊。

Accordingly, it is my wish that many more agreements between the two countries (and others) take place in the near future, our organization is busy lobbying for it and also working on projects intending to support the One Belt One Road Initiative.

因此，我衷心希望两国（及其他国家）在不久的将来能达成更多合作协议，我的企业也在不断为此努力，并致力于支持“一带一路”倡议项目。

Lastly, I’m not one to usually give advice. However, if I were to provide all of you present here today advice, it would be to continue working towards more people visiting China, as well as Chinese people visiting other countries. Experiences such as youth exchanges – whether they concern sports, language learning, or other matters, stay with the youths in question for the rest of their lives, and they are crucial if other countries are to continue understanding the Chinese way of life and vice-versa.

最后，我不是一个经常提供建议的人。但是，如果我要给今天在座的所有人提供建议的话，那便是继续致力于让更多的人来访中国，也让更多的中国人到其他国家进行交流。不管是体育、语言学习还是其他领域的交流，这对于青年的影响是长久深远的，对国际社会认知认可认同中国也十分重要，同样反之亦然。

I myself am very familiar with China, and our beloved Dongguan and I can genuinely say that I’ve enjoyed some of my best experiences here in this country. My only wish now is to make sure that others from my home country and rest of the world also experience what China and Dongguan offers in this regard.

我对中国及深爱的东莞十分熟悉。我可以真诚地说，我在中国拥有非常美好的经历。我现在唯一的愿望就是希望我的祖国及世界其他地方的人也能来中国和东莞体验到这份美好。

The Dongguan people have not only allowed me and my company to prosper – they have helped it do so. I’m sure that most of you present here today can say the same. As can be seen, by the support offered by the Dongguan government, collaborative projects with other countries have definitely been on the rise in recent years. Given this scenario, I believe that the time is ripe for China to continue showcasing its qualities to the world. And people-to-people diplomacy is definitely the way to go in this regard.

东莞人民不仅欢迎我们，还为我和我的企业在这里发展提供了支持与帮助。我相信在座各位也对此感同身受。在东莞市政府的支持下，近年来东莞与其他国家的交流合作不断加强。我相信，中国向世界展示的时机已经成熟，而民间外交也必然是其重要方式。

As individuals who have had a taste of what Dongguan has to offer, let’s let the world know how wonderful Dongguan and China are, shall we?

作为已体验到东莞美好的人，让我们一起向世界展示美好的中国及东莞吧！

Thank you.

谢谢大家！