AFDC 2009 Seminar on Development Strategy Held in Beijing
AFDC 2009 Seminar on Development Strategy was held in Beijing on January 14, 2009. It was attended by the heads of the International Department of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, Chinese delegates on the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, delegates from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, heads of the Foreign Trade Office of the Finance Bureaus of Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Hainan and AFDC representatives.
Deputy Director-Generals Li Kouqing and Yang Jinlin respectively briefed the delegates on AFDC work accomplished in the past year and the work plan for 2009 of Shanghai and AFDC Beijing Office. Li's report was titled Seeking New Developments in the New Circumstances. Following that, all the participating delegates joined the in-depth discussions and exchanges on how to build AFDC into a world-renowned communication platform and think tank in finance and development and how to better contribute to China’s financial diplomacy work.
In retrospect, AFDC organized more activities with higher quality under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance in 2008. It had organized 13 training activities throughout the year, in which over 1000 participants had been trained in face-to-face training workshop and 684 people trained through distance learning via GDLN network. Workshops have been held on hot topics such as development evaluation, SME finance, bond market development and risk management in the banking sector. In close cooperation with the World Bank, AFDC 2008 Biennial Forum themed Fiscal and Financial Policy Options for Clean Development was successfully held. Following that, a videoconference seminar on the current Wall Street financial crisis and a forum on Financial Tsunami and the Chinese Economy: Challenges and Countermeasures were organized. Then in cooperation with the ADB, GMS Strategic Leadership Program was successfully implemented in Shanghai. In addition to that, a bilateral cooperative agreement was signed between AFDC and the Institute of Financial Training of the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance, signaling the new cooperation ties between the two partners. On the other hand, AFDC Beijing Office, while striving to develop its research capacity, exerted itself to the timely tracking and in-depth study of the hot issues in finance and economy, coming up with 31 issues of Special Focus on Current Financial and Economic Issues for the reference of the Ministry of Finance.
During the discussions, all delegates made positive comments on the achievement made by AFDC in 2008 and offered their constructive suggestions regarding the work in the coming year and the future development of AFDC. All in all, AFDC will continue to combine domestic and international resources, make constant innovations in its work, share the Chinese development pattern and experience with other APEC economies and play an active role in boosting knowledge sharing in the region.
