Fortunately, his university arranged language partners for international students. He gradually integrated into the new environment and made Chinese friends. As he knew how to play the guitar, he also found common interest with his peers through music. After his graduation from the university last year, he got a job as a market analyst in the Seychelles Trading Company, which is now seeking to import high-quality merchandise from China.

After the youth festival, he will fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong province, where he can help his colleagues better communicate with Chinese suppliers at the 133rd Canton Fair.

At the festival's opening ceremony, Li Bin, president of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, expressed the hope that all participants would feel the "friendly enthusiasm of Chinese people toward Africa, see the spirit and style of Chinese youth, experience China's rapid development, and understand the specific practices of China's modernization path and the unremitting efforts of the Chinese people to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".

"I believe what you will see is a vibrant China in the spring, a real, three-dimensional, and comprehensive China, a China that is injecting strong certainty and new vitality into the world with its new development," Li said.

Senegal's Ambassador to China Ibrahima Sory Sylla said the African countries and China have a combined population of 2.7 billion, of which 1.3 billion are under the age of 19. African countries and China should take responsibility for youth education, implement public policies, improve the quality of education, develop vocational skills, empower women and youth, and increase their chances of obtaining decent employment, thereby enhancing social productivity.

He said both China and Africa aim to promote the realization of the China-Africa community with a shared future by building a world of peace, justice, solidarity, and inclusive development. The China-Africa partnership is a unique model of cooperation based on mutual respect, win-win cooperation and a focus on African needs.

"We should steadfastly continue such cooperation to provide more opportunities for the youth of both sides, as the youth represent the future of our cooperation and actions," he said.