Foreign and Military Affairs

Danish delegation 'impressed'

By QIAN YANFENG (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-10 07:33
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Danish delegation 'impressed'
A Danish delegation attends the third plenary session of the National People's Congress as observers at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday. [Feng Yongbin / China Daily]

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BEIJING: For Anne-Mette Winther Christiansen, the first vice-chairperson of the Danish Parliament's education committee, the highlight of her first trip to China was to make it inside the Great Hall of the People, where she and her colleagues attended briefly the annual Chinese legislative meeting and got a glimpse of the country's political system.

The 44-year-old is heading the delegation from the Danish Parliament education committee for a three-day visit to China.

Christiansen said she was "impressed". "It's good to see everyone have a voice," she said. "It's always important to have a voice and be heard."

She also said it was good that the Chinese government emphasized education as one of the main issues during the ongoing NPC and CPPCC sessions. "Education is a very important issue at the moment. We need to be educated to be able to take care of ourselves," she said.

China and Denmark have already started education cooperation in the nursing and teaching sectors, she said, adding that there could be room for further collaboration in the engineering field.

Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, the Danish ambassador to China, said the battle against climate change and building a knowledge-based society are two areas where the two sides have potential for enhancing mutual cooperation.

"That is why it's important to have the education committee here because they can contribute to enhancing cooperation in the educational area," he said.

The delegation visited universities and medical colleges in southwestern Sichuan province and Beijing after arriving in China on Sunday.

The visit is aimed at strengthening educational cooperation and identifying areas with the biggest potential for cooperation, as this year marks the 60th anniversary of China-Denmark diplomatic ties, Jeppe said.

Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the Danish Parliament education committee, said although the two countries' political systems are different, there are great opportunities and potential for future exchanges.