Staff from Gansu Provincial Foreign Affairs Office attended “Obuchi Fund Project Workshop & the Children’s Drawing Contest Awards Ceremony of the Second Sino-Japanese Obuchi Green Project”, which was held in Yinchuan City, Ningxia, from July 22 to 25.

At the workshop, officials from the State Forestry Administration and Japan Obuchi Fund Office briefed the implementation of the project in China, summed the work in 2007, and raised aim for the future work. In children's drawing contest, pictures named "Green" and "Our Green World" recommended by Gansu won the third prizes, and Gansu’s drawings entitled "Harmonious World", "Planting Trees" and "Friendship Trees" won the Excellence Awards.

Sino-Japanese Non-governmental Green Cooperation Fund (Obuchi Fund) was set up under the common concern and advocacy of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in 1999. The fund aims to develop the friendship between the two peoples through boosting bilateral cooperation in afforestation. The Japanese government contributed 10 billion yen as the special fund. Since it was launched in October 2000, China has got a total of 3.37 billion yen from Japan through implementing 115 projects, and the total area of afforestation has reached 30,500 hectares.