A'eau Christopher Hazelman, CEO of Samoa's Ministry of Education and Culture, visits the Taizhou Chengdong Central Primary School. [Photo/WeChat account: TZSCDZXXX]

A delegation from Samoa led by A'eau Christopher Hazelman, CEO of the Ministry of Education and Culture, visited Taizhou, Jiangsu province, from Sept 20 to 23. During the visit, Qin Meng, executive vice-mayor of Taizhou, met with the delegation.

Qin warmly welcomed the guests and gave an overview of the city's economic and social development, highlighting progress in education. Qin noted that Taizhou and Samoa have maintained close exchanges in recent years, especially in education and culture.

He recalled last year's visit by Samoa's former Prime Minister, during which both sides signed agreements on friendship schools and skills training programs. Qin said the two sides have been actively following through on these agreements, achieving fruitful results.

He emphasized that this visit, coming on the 50th anniversary of China-Samoa diplomatic relations, is significant for deepening cooperation in education, culture, and other fields. He also expressed Taizhou's intention to strengthen government-level and local exchanges, and to leverage the city's vocational education resources by sending skilled teaching teams to Samoa for training programs.

A'eau praised Taizhou's thriving pharmaceutical and shipbuilding industries, strong environmental awareness, and well-developed education system. He stressed that education cooperation is an important part of Samoa-China relations and pledged to expand training programs, deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and benefit communities in both regions.

A'eau visits Taizhou Polytechnic College. [Photo/Taizhou Polytechnic College]

During their stay, the delegation visited Taizhou Polytechnic College, Zhengtai Group, Chengdong Primary School, and the Taizhou Medical Expo Museum.