On March 15, the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) received a group of friends from Zimbabwe. Long Jiangwen, Deputy Director-General of the International Department of the ACWF, met the 15-member delegation, which was invited by the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The delegation was led by Absolom Sikhosana, Member of the Politburo and Secretary for Youth Affairs of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

    During the meeting, Long gave a brief overview of the ACWF and Chinese women. Sikhosana and his colleagues shared their experiences and efforts to achieve gender equality. According to the delegation, women's political participation in Zimbabwe is very high. Zimbabwe's high-level women leaders include a female vice-president, four female ministers and two female provincial governors. Long and the delegation also recalled the 10th Anniversary Commemoration of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing last year, at which Zimbabwe participated.

    A 24-member group from Gunma Prefecture, Japan, visited China on March 25-28, at the invitation of the All-China Women's Federation. The picture above shows their visit to the Beijing Liuyi Kindergarten. On March 16, friends from the Group of Ibero-Latin American Residents (known by its Spanish acronym GRILA), led by President Carla Soya, visited Beijing Children's Eye Hospital. The friends were meeting 11 amblyopic Chinese children who were in the hospital. GRILA was helping to pay for the children's hospitalization.