Vietnam’s Education and Training Minister Pham Vu Luan is in Guiyang, the capital of the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou, for the first ASEAN-China Education Ministers’ Conference and the third ASEAN-China Education Cooperation Week from August 1-5.

After the opening ceremony on August 3, Minister Luan chaired the conference, which focuses on stepping up exchanges, raising community awareness and promoting regional development.

The participants will also discuss how to boost cooperation in education between ASEAN member countries and China .

The conference’s success will contribute to promoting cooperation in education between ASEAN and China and between Vietnam and China in particular, Minister Luan told a Vietnamese News Agency correspondent.

He said that cooperation in education and training between ASEAN and China will increase understanding, friendship and solidarity between the participating countries as well as improve the quality of human resources training, which will help to develop the economy, trade, services, scientific research and ensure peace and stability in the region.

Earlier, on August 2, Minister Luan had separate meetings with his counterparts from China , Laos , Cambodia , Singapore , Myanmar and the Philippines .

The ASEAN-China Education Ministers’ Conference was one of the major initiatives proposed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the fourth East Asia Summit in Thailand in October last year.

It is the highest-level international meeting in the field of education under the framework of China-ASEAN cooperation.

The annual China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week was launched in 2008. The project aims to promote mutual understanding among young people and further cooperation between educational establishments, as well as pushing forward a common economic and cultural road to development./.