Million volunteers in Hangzhou get ready as G20 draws near

Staff work at the information desk for the 2016 G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting at the Pudong Shangri-La East Shanghai hotel in Shanghai, Feb 24. [Photo/IC]

Volunteers are busy preparing as the G20 Summit in Hangzhou is around the corner, said the host city's organizer at the 30-day countdown press briefing.

Official statistics from the city show that the number of registered volunteers has reached 1.52 million. The city has also asked 23,000 volunteer teams and 6,500 community institutions to remain on standby.

According to the host, volunteers have been assisting the city in various ways for the past 24 years.

In 1993, the "West Lake protection activity" triggered the start of volunteers' participation in the construction of the city and community management.

Currently, the city's volunteer service points have been established in every individual community, enabling 200,000 people to enjoy the services that are delivered to their doors.

The city has built four levels (city, county, street and community) volunteer service systems and three major service platforms, including volunteer employment guiding center, volunteer committee and youth public welfare and social service center.

Members of an international volunteer team attend a public event in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. More than 100,000 volunteers have signed up to help with the G20 summit.[Photo provided To China Daily]

According to the Hangzhou host, tens of thousands of volunteers have previous experience in providing services, including courtesy service, interpretation, conference reception and security, for the Olympic Games, the World Exposition, the Asian Games and Cartoon Festival.

"Volunteers have become an indispensable asset in supporting community management and showcasing the image of culture and hospitality of the city," said the Hangzhou officials.

According to a recent report from Xinhua News Agency, more than 3,700 on-site volunteers have been recruited for the upcoming G20 summit.

The volunteers, who are mostly college students and teachers who can speak a foreign language, were chosen from over 26,000 applicants from 15 universities across Zhejiang province, said Xinhua, citing volunteer coordinator Wang Huilin.

Wang said around 3,200 volunteers will assist participants during the meeting. Some 700 people will be on standby.

Among the listed volunteers, 33 of them are representatives from Beijing and Shanghai.

There are also 25 international students from overseas countries, such as Russia, Germany, Australia and Kazakhstan.

The volunteers have undergone training, including event services and first aid.

This aerial photo taken on Sept 16, 2015 shows the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. China will host the 2016 Group of Twenty (G20) summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou, a tourism city best known for its West Lake scenic spot, on Sept 4-5. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to the official website of G20, the summit was initiated in 1999 and consists of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.

The first G20 Leaders' Summit was held in 2008.

In September 2009, the Pittsburgh Summit announced G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, marking an important progress in global economic governance reform. The tenth Summit was held in Antalya, Turkey in November, 2015.

Some guest countries and the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Financial Stability Board, the International Labour Organisation, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development were also invited to attend the G20 Summit.