Ｃｈｉｎａ－Ｏｃｅａｎｉａ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ａｓｓｏｃｉａｔｉｏｎ Ｆｏｕｎｄｅｄ

The China-Oceania Friendship Association (COFA) convened its first Council Meeting and gave a reception to celebrate its inception in the auditorium of the CPAFFC on February 23， 2005. The aims of the Association are to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the people of China and Oceanic countries， expand bilateral exchanges and cooperation and promote common development.

The Statutes of the COFA were adopted at the Council Meeting. Peng Peiyun， former vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress， was elected its president， and CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin and Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association Chen Mingde its vice presidents.

In her speech at the meeting， President Peng Peiyun said， China has close contact and increasing cooperation in the political， economic， trade， cultural， educational and other fields with the countries and regions in Oceania. To enhance cooperation is in the interests of both sides and conducive to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large. The COFA will give full play to the initiative of the people and mobilize various social forces to lay a broad mass base for the development of state-to-state relations and to further bilateral relations in width and depth. Vice President Li Xiaolin delivered a work report at the meeting.

At the meeting， the council members held group discussions on how to carry out the work of the COFA. They expressed their opinions freely and put forward many valuable suggestions on how to conduct people-to-people exchanges， how nongovernmental diplomacy can help further improve the relations between China and the Oceanic countries and regions and how to carry out substantial exchanges and cooperation.

The reception was held in the evening. CPAFFC President Chen Haosu， among about 100 people including COFA council members from various social strata and diplomatic envoys from the embassies of the Oceanic countries in China， attended the reception. In his speech Chen Haosu extended congratulations on the founding of the COFA and pointed out， cooperation between China and many countries and regions in Oceania has maintained a good momentum of development. Such cooperation has been carried out between both the governments and the people in a variety of fields and at various levels. But， the development of people-to-people relations is uneven and exchanges and cooperation in many fields are waiting to be opened up and deepened. Tony Browne， New Zealand ambassador to China， made a congratulatory speech on behalf of the diplomatic envoys of the Oceanic countries in China.

Pearls of the Pacific， a dance troupe， performed Pacific island dances at the reception to express congratulations.