Kansas City Friendly Delegation Visits the BPAFFC

时间:2019-04-16  09:02:58

On April 15, a friendly delegation from Kansas City, Missouri, led by Teresa Chien, president of the Society for Friendship with China and board director at the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation, visited the BPAFFC.

In recent years, the BPAFFC has carried out productive cooperation with friendly organizations in Kansas City to build stronger people-to-people friendship between Beijing and the American city. The two sides reviewed the 17th Edgar Snow Symposium, the Symposium for the 110th anniversary of the birth of Helen Snow, and the 18th Edgar Snow Symposium, which they co-hosted. They both believed that these events have brought peoples of the two cities closer and deepened mutual understanding and friendship among them. Zhang Qian, executive vice president of the BPAFFC, applauded Teresa Chien and the delegation members’ dedication to China-U.S. friendship over the past few decades. Teresa Chien thanked the BPAFFC for hosting the meeting and believed the visit would further deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American people.

Zhang Qian briefed the delegation about Beijing and the city’s efforts to tackle air pollution, relocate its non-core functions and uplift, as well as preparations for the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing and  the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. To welcome the delegation, an Edgar Snow statue, a gift presented at a meeting in 2016 by visiting Kansas City mayor-pro-tem Scott Wagner to Madam He Luli, former vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and honorary president of the BPAFFC, was erected at the scene of the meeting, creating a more hospitable environment for the delegation. Zhang Qian said that Edgar Snow was a longtime friend of the Chinese people and a bridge and bond connecting the Chinese and American people, the people in Beijing and Kansas City. She said that the BPAFFC would spare no effort to cooperate with the Society for Friendship with China, the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation, as well as other friendly organizations. The two sides also discussed organizing events including dragon boat racing and gourmet exchanges.

Also present at the meeting were former Chinese ambassadors Gu Pin’e and Wu Zexian, both currently serving as vice presidents at China Society for People’s Friendship Studies, and Gao Shuangjin, vice president of the BPAFFC.