CPAFFC President Chen Haosu Leads Delegation to Iceland and Denmark

At the invitation of the Icelandic-Chinese Cultural Society (ICCS) and the Friendship Association Denmark-China, the CPAFFC delegation headed by President Chen Haosu visited Iceland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands from November 18 to 29, 2003.

On November 22, in collaboration with the ICCS and the Chinese Association of Iceland, the delegation held a kite show aiming at promoting traditional Chinese culture and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ICCS. Launched at a stretch of elevated land near the shore of North Atlantic in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, the show attracted many local Icelandic people. The kites embellished the azure sky with beautiful colours.

On November 23, the ICCS held a ceremony to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Some 150 people including President Chen Haosu and his party, Mr. Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson, the permanent secretary of state of the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Olafur Egilsson, the former Icelandic ambassador to China, Mr. Jiang Zhengyun, Chinese ambassador to Iceland, representatives of the Chinese community in Iceland and the art circles participated in the event. The ICCS, since its establishment in 1953, has been working actively for the promotion of Sino-Icelandic cooperation in the fields of trade, science, culture and education. The current President Mr. Anthor Helgason who is also chief executive of the Icelandic Association for the Handicapped cherishes profound friendly sentiments towards China. Chinese leaders, including Mr. Li Peng, former chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, were guests at his home during their visit to Iceland. In his speech at the ceremony Mr. Helgason gave a brief account of the current work of the ICCS, recalled friendly exchanges the ICCS had conducted with China in the past 50 years, and emphasized the important role the ICCS had played in enhancing Sino-Icelandic people-to-people friendly contact. President Chen Haosu also made a warm speech, in which he highly praised Mr. Helgason for his efforts in promoting the friendly relations between China and Iceland. The Chinese artists who came with the delegation played traditional Chinese music instruments guzheng and pipa at the ceremony and their performance was well received.

Mr. Olafur Grimsson, president of Iceland, met with the delegation, which pushed the visit to a climax. During the meeting the president spoke highly of the relations between Iceland and China, which in his words "set an example of cooperation between a big and a small countries and prove the importance of mutual respect between different countries". On the importance of cultural exchanges, he pointed out that the friendly people-to-people exchanges are the basis for developing relations between governments. He hoped that the CPAFFC and the ICCS, as nongovernmental organizations, would continue their cooperation in cultural exchange and play a greater role in promoting the friendly exchanges between the people of the two countries. At the meeting with the delegation Mr. Bragason, director from the Ministry of Social Affairs, briefed on the administrative division, parliamentary election and programmes for the handicapped in Iceland. He hoped to have cooperation with relevant departments in China. At the working conference with Mr. Vilhjalmur Th. Vilhjalmsson, president of the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities, the two sides explored the possibilities of furthering technological cooperation between local governments and establishing more friendship-city relations between the two countries. The delegates from Hunan province showed great interest in cooperation with Iceland in the application of geothermal technology.

The main destination of the delegation's visit to Denmark was the Faroe Islands. Located at the North Atlantic and surrounded by Norway, Scotland and Iceland, Faroe Islands became an autonomous region of Denmark in 1948. It has rich fishing resources and the fish farming and fish processing industry take up the dominant place in its economy. The tourism sector has seen a quick rise in recent years.

As one of the very first Chinese delegations to visit the Faroe Islands, we were warmly received by the local government. The Prime Miniser's Office arranged the programme for our delegation. Mr. Anfinn Kallsberg, Faroese prime minister, expressed his intention to cooperate with China in the fields of trade, tourism and culture at his meeting with the delegation. The Faroese side specially arranged for the delegation to visit fish and shrimp research institutes in the hope that the two sides could carry out cooperation in fish farming. The delegation also held meetings with Mr. H?gni Hoydal, deputy prime minister and minister of justice, and Ms. Annita áFríeriksm?rk, minister of culture. Ms. Fríeriksm?rk told us that they already had a Chinese student studying at Faroe and expressed the hope that there would be more exchanges between students of the two sides. Mr. Birgir Kruse, marketing director of the Nordic House, invited the CPAFFC to send an artists' troupe to participate in the Faroese International Art Festival in August 2004.

In Copenhagen, the delegation held meetings with Mr. Uwe Nikolai Lorenzen, director of the Danish Association of Local Authorities. He briefed the delegation on the work of the Association and exchanged views with the delegation on enhancing cooperation within the framework of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA). Mr. Lorenzen hoped that the CPAFFC would assist in twinning more friendship cities between China and Denmark, thus contributing to further cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, science and technology, culture and education between local governments of the two countries.