The China-Myanmar Round-Table Conference on People-to-People Exchanges opened in Kunming, capital city of southwest China's Yunnan Province, on May 14, 2013.

Sun Jiazheng, president of China NGO Network for International Exchanges, delivers a speech at the China-Myanmar Round-Table Conference on People-to-People Exchanges in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, on May 14, 2013. [Photo by Li Xiaohua, China.org.cn]

Themed the "Pool wisdom for win-win development," the conference mainly features pragmatic communication between NGOs and enterprises from both China and Myanmar. More than 60 representatives attended the conference which is set to last one day.

Co-hosted by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) and the Myanmar Development Resource Institute (MDRI), the conference is the first ever such channel in China-Myanmar bilateral people-to-people exchanges.

China and Myanmar share a long border and have been on good neighborly terms. People-to-people exchanges are the foundation for bilateral relations and it is crucial for the two nations to deepen their cultural and economic communication and cooperation, said Sun Jiazheng, president of CNIE, during the opening ceremony.

"President Xi has stressed that China will try to deliver benefits to its neighboring countries, including Myanmar, as to pursue regional common development. Therefore, the two nations shouldn't waiver by foreign disturbances and obstacles. We hope a breakthrough can be made in bilateral exchanges," explained Sun Jiazheng, who is also vice-chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

"Bilateral relations between Myanmar and China are now embarking upon a new era", said Ko Ko Hlaing, chief political advisor of the Myanmar President's Office.

Ko Ko Hlaing, chief political advisor of the Myanmar President's Office, delivers a speech at the China-Myanmar Round-Table Conference on People-to-People Exchanges in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, on May 14, 2013. [Photo by Li Xiaohua, China.org.cn]

"We hope that a regular communication channel can be created for communication in this new era of information in order to avoid gaps and misunderstandings," emphasized Ko Ko Hlaing.

Bai Wei, deputy secretary general of the China Foundation for Peace & Development, said that great emphasis has been placed on the people's livelihood in reference to the foundation's projects in Myanmar.

In the next five-or-so years, 20,000 cataract patients will receive free surgery at the Ophthalmology Medical Center in Rangoon, which has been jointly built by China and Myanmar, and accounts for about ten percent of all such patients in Myanmar, Bai disclosed.

In addition, the training program for Myanmar medical staff will be continued this year and a second group of Myanmar medical staff will receive training at the Provincial No. 1 People's Hospital in Yunnan in early June.

The foundation has also sent medical vehicles to Myanmar's countryside and offers free surgery to those impoverished cataract patients who cannot afford to travel to cities for treatment.

Mr. Nay Lin, chief of Myanmar-China International Ophthalmic Center, acknowledged the foundation's efforts in Rangoon and hoped that such practice could be expanded to other cities across Myanmar in the near future. He also expressed his hopes for more medical vehicles to be made available for countryside patients.