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Top leaders face-to-face with future

By Alexis Hooi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-12 08:04

SINGAPORE: Third-year Chinese undergraduate Zhu Fengshi beat nearly 30,000 youths nationwide for a coveted trip to Singapore.

But unlike most Chinese youngsters who head to the city-state for study or play, Zhu, 20, clinched the chance to represent China as a youth delegate to this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Special coverage:  17th APEC Leaders' Week Related readings:  APEC opinion leaders: Too soon to mull exit from stimulus  APEC finance ministers meet on growth restoration  APEC 20th Anniversary High-Level Symposium opens in Singapore  APEC seeks post-crisis growth drivers

"I'm proud of being given this extremely rare opportunity to represent the country," said Zhu, who is from Changchun, Jilin province.

The finance and business-English major in Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics, is one of nine Chinese students taking part in APEC as its youth delegates.

The Chinese youth delegates selected for APEC's annual Voices of the Future exchange program make up the 116 young representatives from 18 of the forum's 21 members.

The youngsters will be able to meet and discuss issues of the day with leaders and representatives from the region.

In his speech at the opening ceremony of the program on Tuesday, Singapore's Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Vivian Balakrishnan, asked the young delegates to take advantage of the "face-to-face interaction" they would be getting in the course of the week and "build on these relationships with the other youth leaders."

"It is equally important that you actively share the lessons and experiences from this program with your peers back home," he said.

"What you bring back to your economy, and how you ensure that your peers can learn from your experience here, will be pertinent to how the future will turn out eventually," he said.

Indeed, Zhu found the chance to interact with fellow delegates amid a jam-packed program particularly enriching.

"The APEC summit will provide an excellent platform for me and my peers to learn and contribute together with others of our generation coming from all the different countries," she said.

Apart from meeting business leaders and officials, Zhu has already visited the Istana, the residence of Singapore's president, as well as tourist attractions like the city's Night Safari.

"This is my second visit to Singapore and there are so many similarities between our home back in China and here but it's different this time because of all these opportunities for us Chinese people to showcase what we have to offer," Zhu said.

One of the highlights of the trip for Zhu and her peers this year will be APEC's CEO Summit, where luminaries like President Hu Jintao and United States President Barack Obama are scheduled to speak.

"China is definitely playing a bigger role on the global stage, so I hope this is a chance for us to do our part and make our mark," she said.