Dear Dr. ZU, Director WANG, Mr. Liu and Prof Ruan, distinguished guests, teachers and students from all over the world: Good morning and good afternoon!

First of all, congratulations on the launch of the 2022 GYLA Distance Education Summer Programme! The main theme of this year's programme is " Empowering Youth as Global Leaders for Championing Post-Pandemic Futures and Engagement in SDGs ".

At the heart of this year's programme is building global competencies for young people.

Global competencies are generally composed of four dimensions: attitudes, values, knowledge and competencies. Specifically there are six aspects, namely: global perspective, ability to learn and work in a cross-cultural environment, respect for diversity, ability to identify perspectives and think independently, awareness of participation and cooperation in international affairs, and international transferable skills.

I hope that all of you will make use of the intercultural platform created by the GYLA summer programme to enhance your global perspective, study the cultures and civilisations of your peers from different countries, strengthen your ability to learn and communicate in an intercultural environment, respect the diversity of different cultures and civilisations. I hope you will be able to exchange ideas, discuss global issues and initiate global agendas, be able to identify viewpoints and improve your ability to think independently. I also hope you will be able to actively participate in international affairs, develop your ability to work together, find your own professional niche in relation to the 17 SDG Goals, grasp interdisciplinary trends and improve your international transferable skills.

I wish you all a very fruitful summer programme: broaden your horizons, increase your knowledge, improve your abilities, boost your motivation and enhance your overal global competencies.

Thank you!