The co-director of the EU-China Training program on Village Governance said Wednesday that the program has made a "significant first step" in training more than 14,000 Chinese government officials since May 2001.

"This might appear a modest achievement if measured against the needs in the country, but it is significant when seen as a first step in a cascading process through which participants in the program training courses are transmitted skills and tools ...down to the village level," said William Massolin.

He said at the ongoing National Conference on Village Self-Governance that the program has been working closely with the key institutions in charge of village governance at the central level by providing financial and technical support in the past four years.

It has also helped to create a strong pool of trainers at the central and provincial levels and developed training manuals on village elections, village governance, transparency in village affairs and democratic decision-making, he said.

"It has been a priority of the program to develop training materials and conduct courses, ..., which are of crucial importance to ensure the strengthening, over the long-term, of village self-governance," he said.

The EU-China Training program on Village Governance is a five-year cooperation between the Chinese Government and the EU Commission, with the Ministry of Civil Affairs acting as executing agency on the Chinese side.

The main objectives are to facilitate long-term cooperation and understanding between China and EU, to enhance understanding and observance of the law among Chinese villagers, their elected representatives and rural officials and to promote village self-governance.

Li Xueju, Chinese Minister of Civil Affairs, said at the opening ceremony of the conference that the program is, so far, China's largest cooperation project with a foreign partner.

It has played a significant role in enhancing the understanding between the two sides and promoting the development of grassroots democracy in China, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2005)