500-member 'Chinese Youth Delegation' to arrive in Delhi tomorrow

New Delhi, Feb 24 (ANI): A 500-member Chinese Youth Delegation will arrive here on a nine-day visit tomorrow as a part of the Indo- China Youth Exchange Programme.

The delegation will be led by Luo Mei, Secretary, Secretariat Central Committee, Communist Youth League of China, who also leads a core group of six members.

The exchange programme involves interaction with local youth, visits to tourist and cultural sites and introduction to economic and social activities.

In addition, it also has elements of educational value such as interaction and exchanges with students and faculty members, meetings with economic and political personages and interactive sessions covering different streams such as culture and sports.

During their stay in Delhi, the Chinese delegation will call on President Pratibha Devisingh Patil. The delegation is also scheduled to attend a banquet hosted by Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken. The delegation will also visit historical places in Delhi and travel to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

The delegation will be divided into six separate groups from February 28 onwards.

Each group will then visit one of the six locations, namely, Mumbai and Aurangabad (Maharashtra); Trivandrum (Kerala) and Bengaluru (Karnataka); Jodhpur and Jaipur (Rajasthan); Patna, Bodh Gaya and Rajgir (Bihar); Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh); and Kolkata (West Bengal). Each group will leave for China on March 4.

During his visit to India from December 15 to 17, 2010, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao informed that the year 2011 was designated as year of "India China Youth Exchange" and subsequently the number of delegates in the Exchange Programme was increased from 100 to 500.

The current visit by Chinese delegation is a reciprocal gesture to a 500-member Indian Youth delegation visit to China from September 20 to 29, 2011 led by Ajay Maken.

The first 100-member Indian Youth Delegation visited China from October 8 to 17, 2006 followed by return visit of 100-member Youth delegation from China from November 20 to 29, 2006.

Similarly, in 2007, 2008 , 2009 and 2010 the Indian Youth Delegations visited China followed by return visit of 100-member Youth delegations from China to further foster and enhance the continued youth-to-youth contact between the two countries and consolidate our long-standing bilateral relation over 60 years. (ANI)