African students tour offices of CPPCC

About 40 students from African nations who are enrolled in Chinese universities visited the offices of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, to learn about China's political system on Tuesday.

The visit was sponsored by the CPPCC National Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help the young people deepen their understanding of the country's top political advisory body and promote long-term development of China-Africa relations, organizers said.

Guo Jun, deputy secretary-general of the CPPCC National Committee, said that as President Xi Jinping has said, youths are the future of a country, and young people from China and Africa are the future of China-Africa friendship.

"I hope young people from Africa will devote themselves to the cause of Sino-African friendship and contribute to the building of a closer community with a shared future between China and African countries," he said.

The African students viewed an exhibition featuring the history and work of the CPPCC. They visited the room where the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee holds its meetings. During a discussion session with political advisers, students raised questions on issues of concern to them.

Joseph Olivier Mendo'o of Cameroon, who studies at Peking University in Beijing, recommended that China increase its assistance to Africa in vocational education because in African countries, there is a shortage of vocational and technical personnel and training. Such a move would promote industrialization and economic development.

He also said there is an imbalance in people-to-people exchanges, in that the number of Africans coming to China greatly exceeds the number of Chinese who visit Africa, he said.

The visit to the CPPCC National Committee's headquarters was part of the fifth China-Africa Youth Festival that opened on Monday in Beijing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.