In order to give full play to the platform function of Shanghai Party Institute and promote the exchange between Chinese and foreign students, the Division of External Training and the Division of Trainees Management jointly organized a salon for Chinese and foreign trainees on the evening of May 24. The Salon focused on the theme of Youth Development and Social Responsibility and invited all members of the delegation of young leaders of political parties from 14 African countries, some trainees from the Young and Middle-aged Cadres Class of SPI and other guests to attend. The Salon was composed of four parts, namely, Keynote Speech, Interactive Communication, Experience Sharing and Summary, and HE Jie, the news anchor of Shanghai Radio and Television Station, presided over the Salon.

In the keynote speech, eight guests made speeches to share their views on two topics：how to guide young people to participate effectively in social affairs and how young people can get better jobs or start their own business in the internet era. These eight guests were Dah Sansan Tilkoueté (President of Youth Organization of Cote dIvoire), Sona Konate (Director of the Minister Office for SMEs and Private Sector Promotion of Guinee), WANG Dan (Deputy Director of the Organization Department of Minhang District Party Committee), CHEN Xinhua (Secretary of the Party Work Committee of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Changning District), Angel Francisco Ela NGOMO NCHAMA (First Deputy Chief Coordinator of ASHO of Guinee Equatoriale), Kaled Ali HOUSSEIN (Social Network Affairs Officer of Ddibouti), LI Can (Deputy Director of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Pudong New Area), and YU Jie (Part-time Deputy Secretary of the 14th Shanghai Youth League Committee and Co-founder of Hujiang.net). The guests believed that the government should take more positive actions in policy formulation, platform supply, and mechanism establishment to guide young people to take more initiative and more effective participation in social affairs; the internet brings great challenges while creating opportunities for this era. The government should help young people to start their own businesses or find jobs by implementing a series of measures, including policy guidance and the formulation of regulations. Young people should seize the opportunities in this era of internet, improve their abilities, realize their own value, and make due contributions to promotion of social development and progress. In the interactive exchange and experience sharing parts, Chinese and foreign guests actively expressed their opinions, feelings and raised questions. The exchange between the speakers and the audience was eager and enthusiastic in exchanges.

ZENG Jun, Vice President of Shanghai Party Institute, pointed out in his concluding speech that young leaders of political parties from African countries learned about the basic conditions of China and the Communist Party of China, XI Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, China’s exploration and experience of reform and opening up, and the work of the Communist Youth League of China during their visit in Shanghai through featured presentations, field visits, discussions and exchange meetings, etc., and the Salon for Chinese and foreign trainees is not only a useful exploration to enrich the forms of research and build a platform for exchange between Chinese and foreign trainees, but also helps young leaders of political parties in Shanghai and African countries to further exchange their respective practices and experience in youth work and other related fields.