On the initiative of three sister cities - Berlin, Beijing and Moscow, the online Launching Ceremony of the first Digital Talents International Skills Competition and online International Forum of Digitalization and Education were held on June 18, bringing together more than 150 representatives of the three cities' education authorities as well as relevant research institutes, businesses and vocational colleges.

The forum lasted nearly three hours. Participants spoke enthusiastically, expressing their opinions on the training of digital talents and the reform and development of vocational education sector. During the forum, Huang Kan, Vice Chairman of Beijing Municipal Education Commission, talked about Beijing's progress in developing vocational education in recent years and its experience in organizing China College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. Margrit Zauner, Head of Labour and VET, Berlin Senate Department for Integration, Labour and Social Services, explained in detail Germany's dual system of vocational education and training (VET) and the creative design of the Digital Talents International Skills Competition. Sergei Sanakoyev, Head of the Russia-China Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation, spoke about the development of digital education in Moscow in recent years.

Representatives of many research institutes, companies and colleges from Berlin, Beijing, and Moscow also talked about typical cases and experience in the training of digital talents and shared their views about how the three cities can do better in the cooperation on education, economy, technology, etc. The first Digital Talents International Skills Competition will be officially held in Berlin in the second half of 2021.

During preparations for the forum, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government engaged with Beijing Municipal Education Commission and other relevant authorities and identified international skills of digital talents as the focus of a new endeavor - capitalizing on sister cities' resources to boost the training of digital talents for Beijing. In the context of regular outbreak control in the city and the spread of virus overseas, Beijing will continue to explore new paths while adapting to the new situation, seek new opportunities, and turn crises into opportunities in developing sister city relationships, thus promoting its role as an international exchange center.