Agency eyes more Luban Workshops

Luo Zhaohui, chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, is a keen advocate of Luban Workshop — the vocational education brand that China runs to offer skills training, Mandarin study and job opportunities in foreign countries.

Luo, who is also a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said his proposal to the CPPCC National Committee's annual session this year is about promoting the construction of the Luban Workshops.

So far, China has established 27 such workshops in 23 countries, and Luban — the Chinese engineering master who lived 2,500 years ago — is now becoming known by more people overseas.

"The workshops have trained a large number of professional and technical talents for those countries, and have become a golden symbol of China's 'small yet smart' program," Luo said. In the future, the agency, which is China's leading agency focused on foreign aid, will continue to increase the assistance provided by such programs, he added.

According to United Nations' statistics, China is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance among all developing countries.

The cooperation agency has been fulfilling its role in delivering emergency humanitarian assistance where natural disasters or conflicts take place.

Last year, Turkiye, Syria and Afghanistan were rocked by strong earthquakes. "When all of these natural disasters happened, China immediately provided humanitarian assistance and reconstruction materials," Luo said.

With the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continuing, China has provided four batches of emergency humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, he added.

"In the past six years, China has launched more than 800 emergency humanitarian assistance programs and provided emergency assistance to over 40 countries," he said.

Taking stock of what the agency has done in the recent past, Luo said it has stepped up efforts to fully implement the Global Development Initiative, advance high-quality construction of the Belt and Road and exchange state governance experience.

"Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, in the past four years we have carried out anti-pandemic assistance, including sending medical materials, medical teams and vaccines to over 160 countries and international organizations," he said.

"We have contributed to global common development, and helped enhance economic and social wellbeing in more than 160 recipient countries," he added.

In the African continent, all the 54 countries are recipients of China Aid.

"In each country, more or less, you can see China Aid projects, such as roads, bridges, government and parliament buildings, sports centers, hospitals and schools.

"All of these are the symbols of mutual friendship. When China needs help, we can always pin our hopes on them," Luo said.