On 26 July 2016, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), met with Mr. Eddie NG Hak-kim, Secretary for Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and exchanged views on strengthening educational cooperation between ASEAN and Hong Kong and between ASEAN and China. Mr. Edward Yu, Administrative Assistant to Secretary for Education Bureau of the Government of the HKSAR, and Ms. Sharon Ko, Principal Assistant Secretary for Education Bureau of the Government of the HKSAR, attended the meeting.
Secretary-General Yang Xiuping said, 2016 marked the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations and the Year of ASEAN-China Educational Exchange. Education was a project bearing on the national plan and people’s livelihood and holding the key to the future of generations. ASEAN-China educational cooperation had delivered fruitful results and both sides were about to hold the 9th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week relying on the established platform for ASEAN-China Education Cooperation Week. As of the end of 2015, over 190 thousand students were studying in each other’s countries.
Secretary-General Yang Xiuping briefed on the mandate and work of ACC, saying that among the 19 flagship projects implemented by ACC in 2016, 4 are educational projects. ACC hosted the 3rd Beijing ASEAN Students’ Games, ASEAN-China Forum on Youth and Humanities, ASEAN-China Youth Leadership Summit and the 1st ASEAN-China Youth Summer Camp. During the ASEAN-China Week, ACC hosted the ASEAN-China Students’ Day, building a platform for exchange among students of both sides. ACC would strengthen communication with the Education Bureau of the Government of HKSAR and take the opportunity of the Year of ASEAN-China Educational Exchange to advance educational cooperation between ASEAN and Hong Kong and between ASEAN and China and recruit more young students into the successors and contributors to ASEAN-China relations so as to lay a solid foundation for the brighter future of ASEAN-China relations. Secretary Eddie NG Hak-kim spoke highly of ACC’s positive effort to promote ASEAN-China educational cooperation and introduced educational development in Hong Kong and educational cooperation between ASEAN and Hong Kong. He said that human resources were the major forces for promoting Hong Kong's development. The number of existing students from kindergartens to colleges was about 1.4 million, accounting for one fifth the population of Hong Kong.
The Government of the HKSAR attached great importance to education and put 20% of fiscal expenditure into education, making the fifteen-year compulsory education visible in the near future. The level of science and technology and education in Hong Kong took the lead in the world and Hong Kong was one of the most favoured destinations for foreign students to study abroad. ASEAN and Hong Kong had close and frequent exchange in education. Hong Kong signed Educational Cooperation Memorandums with Indonesia, Malaysia and Viet Nam. About 250 students of Hong Kong were studying in ASEAN countries and about 800 students of ASEAN countries were studying in Hong Kong in 2015. Hong Kong hoped that more ASEAN students could further study in this place and primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong hoped to be sister schools with their counterparts in ASEAN countries. The Education Bureau of the Government of the HKSAR would strengthen contacts with Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and strengthen information communication and resources sharing with ACC, a crucial platform for cooperation, to promote educational cooperation between ASEAN and Hong Kong and between ASEAN and China and make friendship take roots in people's hearts.
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