On the afternoon of Mar. 26, the "YouthTalk Wenzhou" cultural exchange event themed with  "Wenzhou: View & Vision-Converge Talents & Enrich Our Community" kicked off at the Wenzhou Overseas Media Center.

The event was hosted by Wenzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and organized by Wenzhou Internationalization Research and Development Promotion Center, Wenzhou Overseas Media Center, School of Foreign Languages, Wenzhou University, and China-India Economic & Cultural Exchange Center. Zhou Huaizhong, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Wenzhou Municipal Government and vice chairman of the Wenzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Xu Penghuai and Sun Jianqiang, executive directors of the Wenzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries attended the event with more than 20 internationals from Singapore, the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Pakistan, Mauritius, Colombia, and other countries, as well as Chinese young entrepreneurs from universities in Wenzhou.

Zhou Huaizhong, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Wenzhou Municipal Government and vice chairman of the Wenzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries first extended his welcome speech to the Chinese and international guests for participating in the event. 

He said that the main purpose of holding this event is to closely contact and serve international talents in Wenzhou from different countries with different cultural backgrounds, such as scholars, entrepreneurs, social media influencers, medical experts, etc. He said that in recent years, Wenzhou's economic and social development is surging forward, with its economic aggregate ranking among the top 30 in China for 2 consecutive years. Wenzhou has hosted the "World Young Scientist Summit" for 2 consecutive years, and the international exchanges in science, technology, and education have continuously enhanced and its internationalization level has greatly increased. In order to facilitate the "Millions of Talents Gathering in Wenzhou" Plan during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, He hoped to listen to the opinions from internationals, improve the international information communication and interaction, improve the overall level of service to internationals, attract more international talents to work in Wenzhou. 

Chinese and international guests also gave wonderful speeches and offered excellent dialogues at the event. Sun Jianqiang, director of the China-India Economic and Cultural Exchange Center, said in his speech that the internationalization of human resources is becoming more and more obvious. He hoped that various forms of information-sharing between China and foreign countries will be carried out in the future to create a more tolerant and friendly exchange atmosphere and jointly improve Wenzhou's internationalization level. He is also willing to take advantage of the contacts between China and India to contribute to the economic and cultural exchanges between Wenzhou and India and other countries. 

Roman Meisenburg, a photographer from the United States, said that after coming to Wenzhou, he found that Wenzhou is a very friendly and cosmopolitan city, integrating both modern and traditional elements. Fascinated by Wenzhou's livable life, unique culture and so many attractive things that have yet to be discovered, Roman hoped to better interact with Wenzhou's local community and integrate into its urban life.

As the event progressed, guests put forward different opinions and pragmatic suggestions on how to attract international talents and add international elements in Wenzhou. For example, some of them propose using university resources to help Wenzhou financial companies to establish digital risk control modules; some said about optimizing the government’s one-stop service to bring in more international investment and trade professionals; Other suggestions include organizing a public welfare team composed of foreigners to better serve the community, launching more suitable social activities for foreigners and increasing cultural exchanges with the community, etc. The suggestions offered by international friends will be submitted to relevant departments and agencies and will be promoted and resolved in due course.

In order to more effectively build Wenzhou into an open benchmark city, keep close contact with international talents in Wenzhou, and create an internationalized and inclusive Wenzhou city, the "YouthTalk Wenzhou" sponsored by the Wenzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries will be formed into serial theme activities, focusing on Wenzhou's development vision and key-breakthrough areas, gathering Wenzhou's international talents and offering suggestions for Wenzhou's international development.

(Edited by Ye Ke)