Foreign affairs volunteer 'army' welcomes delegates

GUANGZHOU: Delegates to the 2009 UCLG World Council Meetings and the Guangzhou International Sister Cities Conference are likely to feel at home during their stay thanks to the ready help of an army of foreign affairs volunteers.

In total, 1,352 volunteers - covering a range of 16 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Korean and Japanese, as well as Mandarin and Cantonese - will be on hand help visitors to the two international conferences.

Commenting on the initiative, Xie Tianwen, director of the city's volunteer guidance center, said: "Our guests are likely to meet their fellow countrymen during the meetings in Guangzhou. We have volunteers from 12 countries and regions and many of them are living or studying in Guangzhou. Most have also applied to be volunteers during the 2010 Asian Games. They are all keen on sharing their local knowledge with the delegates."