Australian friendly group donates to Beijing for 18 years

To honor the 18th anniversary of Australia China Friendship Society, ACT Branch’s Donation to Beijing Youth Development Foundation, a celebration has been held by Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (BPAFFC) in the capital’s northeast Huairou District.  

The event took place on Monday, in Labagoumen Central Primary School - the beneficiary of the first donation made by Australia China Friendship Society, ACT Branch back in 2002, through Project Hope，a Chinese public welfare project aiming to help students in poor areas to go back to school. 

Ever since then, the Australian friendly group has made donations of up to 34,000 Australian dollars, or 160,000 yuan, to about 250 students in  Beijing.  

Gao Shuangjin, vice president of the BPAFFC, said Beijing and Canberra are sister cities, and this charity program ongoing for the past 18 years is exactly the epitome of the friendly ties. He said the BPAFFC is ready to work with Australia China Friendship Society, ACT Branch to boost the vitality of the sisterly relationship  and cement public support for bilateral ties.

“We are very proud of our support for Project Hope and we wish all the students a bright and hopeful future,” Carol Keil, president of Australia China Friendship Society, ACT Branch, said in her speech. She also congratulated the People’s Republic of China on its 70th birthday and expressed confidence that the friendship between the two peoples will continue to strengthen and deepen.

At the celebration, President Keil donated the 2019 grant to Beijing Youth Development Foundation, with books and toys being donated to the school.

Meanwhile, Beijing Youth Development Foundation issued  certificates to the Australian society, and each Australian delegate was honored with a badge and the first set of commemorative coins for public welfare since the founding of the PRC. The Labagoumen Central Primary School also presented the Australian delegation paper-cutting as gifts.

Around 120 representatives from both Australia and Beijing attended the event.