Opening Ceremony of the Second World Philanthropy Forum Held in Beijing

BEIJING, China, Nov 29, 2017—The Second World Philanthropy Forum jointly organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and Tsinghua University opened in Beijing on November 29, 2017.

Mr. Li Haifeng, Vice-Chairperson of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference attended the opening ceremony. Ms. Li Xiaolin, President of the CPAFFC, Ms. Chen Xu, Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council and Ms. Gao Xiaobin, Vice Minister of Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China each delivered a speech.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres sent a congratulation letter on the opening of the forum and the to-be-established "Community of Shared Future for Mankind: Collaborative Network for Philanthropy and Social Services ".

In her speech, CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin pointed out that "WPF is an open platform for participation, dedication and sharing in charity and social services. It originates from China and serves the world. We welcome active participation and cooperation of insightful people to work towards the great goal of building a community with a shared future for humankind."

 "We hope that we will promote the sharing of experience, academic exchange, policy advocacy and practical promotion of charities around the world, implement the SDGs and advance the building of a community with a shared future through the forum." said Chen Xu, Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council.

More than 600 guests from over 400 agencies attended the meeting. Over 40 heads of international organizations attended opening ceremony, including Nicholas Rosellini, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China and UNDP Resident Representative, Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to China and heads of Ford Foundation, World Vision International, Asia Foundation, Give2Asia, Oxfam, and Right to Play. In addition, heads of eight world-renowned organizations, including Bill Gates, sent congratulatory letters to the WPF.

With the theme of "Collaboration", the forum explored to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the "Belt and Road Initiative" as well as a mutual consultation mechanism and measures for building a community with a shared future for mankind. It invited experts from the community of social workers, academicians, oversea Chinese, enterprises at home and abroad, foundations and international organizations to conduct seven high-end dialogues, four roundtable discussions and four parallel forums on such topics as anti-poverty, social influence investment, environment protection and youth development, based on their expertise and strength in different disciplines and sectors.

At the opening ceremony, CPAFFC and World Vision International signed the Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation on Every Women Every Child of the United Nations. In the next three years, World Vision International will invest about 1 billion U.S. dollars in countries along the Belt and Road, and unite all sectors of society to carry out livelihood projects and social services.

The forum set up a high-end consultant and partnership mechanism. Julia Eileen Gillard, Chairman of the Global Partnership for Education and former Australian Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, President of the Save the Children Fund and Former Prime Minister of Denmark, Li Wei, Director of Development Research Center of the State Council and Li Jiajie, a famous entrepreneur and philanthropist and Vice President of Henderson Land Development Group, serve as the first consultant group of the forum. Ford Foundation and the Committee of 100 serve as the global strategic partners of this forum.

The forum established a preparatory group of the Academic Committee, announced the 2018 agenda of the WPF, and proposed to formally launch the solicitation and review mechanism for the academic forum at the third forum.

It will launch an initiative and sponsor the establishment of "Community of Shared Future for Mankind: Collaborative Network for Philanthropy and Social Services."