The 2016 Sino-Sierra Leone International Cultural Exchange Year was kicked off on May 1 in Beijing, also marking the launch of the Africa Asia Development and Cooperation Organization.

Representatives from the embassies of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Morocco and Nepal attended the ceremony.

The aim of such events is to enhance mutual understanding between people of Asia and Africa, and introduce Chinese and other Asian cultures through painting, handicraft, folk art, film and photography to African people and vice versa.

"We hope to receive artists from every country to participate in this event actively to show the varied and attractive arts of China and Africa," Zhang Guoyi, secretary-general of the organization, said at the opening.

According to Kumba Momoh, Sierra Leone's deputy ambassador in China, other than strengthened economic cooperation between the two countries, personnel exchanges have expanded, too.