In the Chinese capital of Beijing, wife of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Executive Director of the “My Step” Charitable Foundation Anna Hakobyan had a meeting with Vice-Chairperson of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (one of the most famous and largest state foundation in Beijing) Shen Beili and the Foundation’s leadership.
Among the members of the Armenian delegation were Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Tatevik Stepanyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to China Vahe Gevorgyan and Deputy Director of the “My step” Charitable Foundation for Programs and External Relations Talin Topalakian.
Greeting Anna Hakobyan and the Armenian delegation, Shen Beili stressed the growing Armenian-Chinese relations and voiced hope that this meeting and further partnership will also grow effectively and at the same pace.
Anna Hakobyan noted that she has discovered China anew during her visits to Qingdao and Beijing. Hakobyan went on to say that she has had several important and substantive meetings in Qingdao and toured different institutions, but she really wanted to have a meeting devoted to the “My Step” Charitable Foundation and the establishment of partnership with the latter.
“I would like to take advantage of this meeting for more practical purpose because there might not be such an opportunity in the near future. Since human relations, the establishment of ties between the peoples of both countries and a better and more in-depth recognition of the cultures are very important in the Armenian-Chinese relations, I would like to recommend that the “My Step” Foundation and the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation sign a Memorandum of Cooperation, which will be based on organizing and ensuring human contact (people to people),” Anna Hakobyan emphasized.
Deputy Director of the “My Step” Charitable Foundation for Programs and External Relations Talin Topalakian presented to the partners all the programs of the “My Step” Foundation (“Quanta”, “Horizons”, Program for Discovering the Professional Potential of War Participants, “From Successful to Novice”), provided details about the missions and goals, at the core of which lies quality education, talked about the increase of productivity of different groups and the promotion of novice businesses. Talin Topalakian also presented to the Chinese party the idea of the “My Step” Foundation to set up the “Tshakhruk” social coffee house, the final outcome of which will be integrating persons with special needs and providing them with jobs.
After the Deputy Director of the “My Step” Foundation delivered a brief report, Vice-Chairperson of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation Shen Beili talked about the Foundation’s activities. Presenting details, Beili said that the Foundation was established in 1982 in memory of the late Honorary Chairperson Soong Ching Ling. She added that the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation has adopted more of the course for education and development of children, but it has charity programs in different sectors.
The parties agreed that there are similarities in the ideologies of both Foundations, especially in terms of educational and social programs. Anna Hakobyan also emphasized the importance of exchange of experience and voiced hope that it will be possible to send the beneficiaries of the “My Step” Foundation to China and vice versa soon within the scope of the exchange of experience program. Shen Beili gladly accepted Anna Hakobyan proposed idea of signing a Memorandum of Cooperation.
“We are very glad that we had this discussion, which will lead to the final agreement on partnership between our two Foundations. During the upcoming discussions, we can explore the spheres for partnership. We also welcome your proposal for exchange of experience and can show many projects being implemented in China since our Foundation carries out several programs, especially in remote areas. We would be happy to visit your country and explore your country’s practice because, I believe there will be spheres in which we will have a lot to learn from each other,” China Soong Ching Ling Foundation’s Vice-Chairperson Shen Beili underscored.
At the end of the meeting, Anna Hakobyan expressed hope that the next meeting of the two Foundations, which will be more subject-specific, will be held in Armenia.
Afterwards, the Armenian delegation toured the “Youth Academic, Technological and Cultural Exchange) Center of the Foundation where the employees showcased all their halls, equipment and technologies through which they work with school-age children and educate them.
After her meeting with representatives of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, Anna Hakobyan paid a visit to and toured the premises of the Forbidden City in Beijing, which is also known as Imperial City. For centuries, the Forbidden City was the residence of the emperors of China. The imperial castles were built in the 14th century, after which 24 emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled there. There are 12 castles and a dozen other edifices in the area.
