Vice-Premier Liu Yandong hosted the second meeting of the cultural and people-to-people exchange mechanism between China and Indonesia on Aug 1 at the vice premier’s level with Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani.

Potential cooperation opportunities are huge, which will further promote regional prosperity and stability amid a crucial development period in both countries, according to Liu.

“An efficient people-to-people exchange mechanism is also required for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, Indonesia’s development strategy and the construction of the ASEAN community,” she said.

Liu said that the mechanism, the first high-level cultural and people-to-people exchanges mechanism between China and developing countries, has achieved fruitful results over the past year in such areas as culture, education, health, sports, tourism, youth, and media.

She also suggested the two sides should adopt strategic thinking and take a long-term perspective, so as to make China-Indonesia cultural and people-to-people exchanges an ideal example of cooperation between China and ASEAN.

Liu and Puan jointly witnessed the signing of eight cooperation deals covering areas including education, technology, culture, and forestry.

The first meeting of this mechanism was held in May last year in Jakarta.