ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ Ａｔｔｅｎｄｓ Ｔｈｉｒｄ ＯＬＡＧＩ Ｍｅｅｔｉｎｇ

A CPAFFC delegation led by Wang Hongqiang， deputy director general of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of the CPAFFC and secretary general of the China-Latin America Friendship Association， attended the Third Meeting of OLAGI (Organiacion Latinoamericana de Gobiernos Intermedios) held in La Romana， the Dominican Republic from October 18 to 20， 2006 upon OLAGI’s invitation.

Founded in December 2004， the OLAGI consists of more than 300 governors from 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Its major tasks are to enhance coordination among the governments of these countries for their common interests， press ahead with integration and promote democratic governance. The topics of the Third Meeting of the OLAGI centred on the development of Latin American and Caribbean region， Haiti， women as well as the development strategy of the OLAGI. Vice President of the Dominican Republic Rafael Alburquerque and officials of the ministries of the interior， foreign affairs and women attended the meeting. The participants aired their views freely and had warm discussions. The meeting adopted the Dominican Declaration and other resolutions.

In accordance with the Statutes of the OLAGI， Jhonny Yanez Rangel， governor of Cojedes， Venezuela， was elected new president of the Organization for the concurrent president Luis Guastavino Cordoba no longer served as governor.

The CPAFFC established contact with OLAGI in July 2006. In the same month President Luis Guastavino Cordoba headed an OLAGI delegation and visited China， during which the two organizations signed a letter of intent on friendly cooperation.

At the meeting， on behalf of the CPAFFC， Wang Hongqiang， leader of the delegation， signed an agreement on friendship and cooperation with OLAGI which included that the two organizations would organize governors’ delegations to exchange visits in 2007， holding Latin-American friendship cities conference in 2008， etc.

Jhonny Yanez Rangel， the new president， said that he would implement the agreement signed with the CPAFFC by the previous president and work to further the traditional friendship between Latin American countries and China.

During the visit， Wang Hongqiang met with Roberto Santana， president of the Dominican-China Friendship Association (DCFA). Set up in 2000， the DCFA has done a great deal of work to enhance friendship between the people of the two countries. Wang expressed gratitude to President Santana for his efforts to promote friendship between China and the Dominican Republic. The two sides discussed how to carry out exchanges between the two organizations.

The delegation visited San Francisco de Macoris， capital of Duarte Province. The mayor of the city held a welcoming ceremony in honour of the delegation at the municipal building. The delegation also visited the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and the Pontifical Catholic University and had a working luncheon with the local chamber of commerce， at which Wang Hongqiang briefed those present on the work of the CPAFFC and the bridging role it played between China and other countries for economic development of both sides.