Lancang-Mekong youth visit YDPG for exchange, friendship

The participants of the 13th Lancang-Mekong Youth Friendship Exchange Program paid a special visit to the Yunnan Daily Press Group (YDPG) on March 17, sharing experiences and practices on running new media at the group’s Yunnan Net and Media Command Center.

Jointly held by the All-China Youth Federation and the Thai Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the exchange program this year attracted 66 excellent journalists and university students from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Themed “the aspiration and obligation of young reporters”, the exchange aims to pass on friendship and promote mutual trust among the six Lancang-Mekong countries. This year’s friendship tour will last till March 22, taking the youngsters first to Kunming in China (March 15-17) and then to Chiang Mai in Thailand.

During their stay in Kunming, the six-country delegates are scheduled to join in a forum on friendship and mutual trust and investigate the new-media development in Yunnan.

“We hope to learn more about traditional and new media, and share views on future media development with delegate from other countries,” said Su Thwe Win, head of the Myanmar delegation, adding 14 Myanmar reporters and university students participated in the exchange. 

The visitors also got to know about Yunnan’s effort poverty alleviation and shared their views on Lancang-Mekong culture exchanges.

"I like Chinese culture because it is similar to Vietnamese culture," says a 19-year-old Vietnamese student Tram Khanh Vy, who speaks fluent Chinese. She learned the language because of her strong interest in Chinese culture. In the exchange program, she wants to make more friends and learn more about traditional Chinese culture. 

Lao university student Thongouane Souphavady said life in Kunming is not so fast and it is a pleasure to join in the program in beautiful city.

The exchange program is one of the activities under the framework of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), which forms a new type of sub-regional cooperative mechanism. The LMC was jointly established by the six countries in 2016. 

Chinese source: Yunnan Daily; trans-editing by Wang Shixue