On 21 May 2018, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the Handover Ceremony of the ACC-Yalong Education Equipment Donation to Cambodia and addressed the ceremony.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping highly commended the fruitful achievements in the development of Cambodia-China and ASEAN-China relations and the practical cooperation in all fields. She stated that this year marks the 15th anniversary of ASEAN-China strategic partnership and is designated as the ASEAN-China Year of Innovation. It also marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and Cambodia. Both relations are at an important stage in history. Vocational education is an important component of national education system and human resources development. It is not only an important gateway towards success for young people, but also a key step to increase human resources for national development. Today, ASEAN countries are at a crucial stage of economic and social development, whereby qualified technical personnel are in high demand in every field and industry. With the development of the ASEAN Community, there will be ever-increasing demand for high-quality technical personnel. China is pushing forward the supply-side structural reform, and proactively adapting to and leading the new normal of economic development, thus propelling the industries onto the medium to high level. Meanwhile, China is speeding up the development of modern vocational education system to cultivate more high-quality technical talents and provide strong support to economic and social development. In this context, we should seize the opportunity and sustain the good momentum to make sure that our fruitful collaboration in vocational education will boost common development and bring benefits to our people.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping extended her appreciation to all relevant parties and organizations especially the donor i.e. Yalong Intelligent Equipment Group and President Chen Jiquan for their great contribution to Cambodia-China and Cambodia-ASEAN cooperation in vocational education. She said that the Handover Ceremony has finally come true as a result of intensive work and collaborative efforts of all parties in the past several months, from putting forward the proposal of donation to the signing of agreements, from the training of faculty staff to the shipping of the equipment. As a well-known Chinese private enterprise, Yalong has been actively expanding exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries while pursuing its own development. In recent years, with the assistance of ACC, Yalong has donated education equipment and training programmes to Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar respectively, helping improve vocational training facilities in these countries and contributing to ASEAN-China education cooperation, which has won high appreciation from all sides. It is sincerely hoped that Yalong’s donation of vocational education equipment and training programmes will play a more active role in advancing the development of vocational education in Cambodia.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping pointed out that ACC has always been encouraging TVET institution-enterprise collaboration. The ACC-Yalong Education Equipment Donation Project is another endeavour of ACC to advance ASEAN-China TVET cooperation. ACC will redouble its efforts, take innovative steps and continue to work with all partners and friends to promote ASEAN-China vocational education cooperation to a new level.

Before attending the Handover Ceremony, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ACC and Mr. Chen Jiquan, President of Yalong Intelligent Equipment Group met with H.E. Dr. PichSophoan, Secretary of State, Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training of Cambodia, and exchanged views on advancing Cambodia-China and ASEAN-China vocational education. Ms. Zuo Wenxing, Political Counsellor of the Embassy of China in Cambodia, Ms. Kong Roatlomang, Director of Education, Culture, and Tourism Division of ACC, and Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations of ACC participated in the meeting.