On 21 June 2018, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) paid a working visit to Yalong Intelligent Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (Yalong), met with Mr. Chen Jiquan, President of Yalong and exchanged views on strengthening practical cooperation with ASEAN in the field of vocational education. Mr. Chen Chuanzhou, General Manager of Yalong, Ms. Zhu Zhiyan, General Manager of International Marketing, Ms. Zeng Xiaomin, Manager of Marketing, Ms. Ye Jinna, Secretary-General of Wenzhou Foreign Trade Enterprises Association, as well as Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations and Mr. Zhang Fengyu, Education Officer of Education, Culture, and Tourism Division of ACC, participated in the meeting.
President Chen Jiquan extended his warm welcome to Secretary-General Yang Xiuping and briefed on the operation of Yalong as well as its cooperation with ASEAN Member States. He said that Yalong, established in 1983, is a leading corporation in China's education equipment industry. Yalong’s equipment has been sold to Southeast Asia, Europe, America, Africa, and so on. It provides services to higher education institutes, TVET institutes and industry or enterprise training centres by means of its intelligent education equipment and services, online and offline training, consultation courses, etc. Yalong has actively responded to China's Belt and Road Initiative and deeply engaged in exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries. Yalong has been providing technique standard and competition platform to multiple sessions of ASEAN Skills Competition, engineering practice equipment to the Luban Workshop which is under construction in Thailand, and faculty training to ASEAN institutes in support of cultivating high-quality technical talents. In recent years, with ACC's support and assistance, Yalong has donated vocational education equipment and training courses to Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand, and forged new platform for international exchanges and cooperation by exploring a jointly-run Yalong Silk Road College in ASEAN countries.
President Chen Jiquan extended his appreciation to ACC and Secretary-General Yang Xiuping for all the support and help in fostering Yalong's exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries. He said that Yalong will steadily push forward the jointly-run Cambodia-Wenzhou Vocational & Technical College-Yalong Silk Road College, expand cooperation with ASEAN and make greater contribution to the development of vocational education for both sides and the overall development of ASEAN-China relations
Secretary-General Ye Jinna briefed on the Wenzhou Foreign Trade Enterprises Association. She said that with the pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative, more and more enterprises from Wenzhou choose to invest and start businesses in ASEAN countries. The cooperation with ASEAN enterprises has been deepening and yielded positive results. She hoped to strengthen links with ACC to help enterprises from Wenzhou to get a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the investment policies and environment in ASEAN Member States, constantly expand cooperation areas and elevate the ASEAN-Wenzhou exchanges and cooperation to a higher level.
Secretary-General Yang Xiuping congratulated Yalong on its achievements and highly commended Yalong's contribution to boosting ASEAN-China TVET exchanges and cooperation. She pointed out that both ASEAN Member States and China are at a critical stage of economic development. With further development of the ASEAN Community as well as the transformation and upgrading of China's economy, there will be pressing demand for cultivating more high-quality technical personnel for both sides and the deepening of vocational education exchanges and cooperation is in line with the common interests of both sides. ACC attaches great importance to ASEAN-China vocational education cooperation and has organized mutual visits by TVET delegations from ASEAN and China. ACC has successfully hosted a series of activities including China-ASEAN Vocational Education Cooperation Dialogue, China-ASEAN Vocational Education Principal Summit and TVET Mobility and Networking Programme. ACC has facilitated the signing of MoUs between more than 450 TVET institutes of the two sides, and assisted hundreds of ASEAN students to study in China with the scholarships provided by the Chinese side. With ACC's facilitation, the ASEAN-China Consortium for TVET Cooperation was launched in 2017, which serves as a new channel for ASEAN-China vocational education development. ACC will continue to play its role as a one-stop information and activities centre, join hands with all partners and friends including Yalong, and strengthen links with Wenzhou Foreign Trade Enterprises Association to promote ASEAN-China practical cooperation to a new level and bring more benefits to the people of both sides.
Accompanied by President Chen Jiquan, Secretary-General Yang Xiuping also visited Yalong's Intelligence Manufacturing Experience Centre and Products Exhibition Hall and had a deeper understanding of Yalong's development history as well as its internationalization strategy.