Education Pact Signed With Region in China
Lt. Governor Aiona announced Monday that Hawai`i has charted a new course in its long-standing diplomatic ties to Guangdong by starting an education exchange program with the densely populated province of southern China.
The Lt. Governor presides over the signing of an agreement between the state Department of Education and Guangdong Province.
The program for students, teachers and school administrators is expected to deepen the state’s strategic relationship with the part of the world to which more than 80 percent of Chinese in Hawai‘i can trace their ancestry.
The program, which grew out of a Memorandum of Understanding signed Monday at the State Capitol by Guangdong and Hawai‘i education officials, is also expected to help build on a tradition of friendship and close cooperation between the two governments.
“In this era of globalization, it is important that we build upon our relationships and link with our friends to grow together in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Lt. Governor Aiona, who presided over the historic signing ceremony. “And we have no stronger friend in China than Guangdong Province – which has a population of 79 million permanent residents, and 31 million migrant residents, making it the most populous province in China.”
Signing the MOU at the ceremony were: Wan Qingliang, the vice governor of Guangdong Province; Fu Lang, director general of the Foreign Affairs Office in Guangdong; Donna Ikeda, chairperson of the Hawai‘i Board of Education; and Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent of Hawai‘i’s public school system.
Since 1985, Hawai‘i has had a sister-state relationship with Guangdong Province. Throughout the years, there have been various cultural exchanges between Hawai‘i and Guangdong. “But today,” Lt. Governor Aiona said, “we enter a new era to strengthen the bond of our relationship to specifically emphasize education.”
