On December 2, the ceremony of the 2025 Sichuan Friendship Award was held in Chengdu. Shi Xiaolin, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Governor of the People's Government of Sichuan Province, presented the certificates to the award-winning foreign experts and delivered an address.

The Sichuan Friendship Award is an honorary award conferred by the People's Government of Sichuan Province upon outstanding foreign experts who are invited to work or employed in Sichuan and have made exceptional contributions to the province. It is selected on an annual basis. This year, the provincial government decided to confer the Sichuan Friendship Award upon five foreign experts: Ranjith Pathegama Gamage, an Australian expert in deep-earth energy and resource development at Southwest Petroleum University; Alex Rivera, a Chilean expert in anthropology and educational cultural communication at Southwest University of Science and Technology; Lutz Gunther Pluemer, a German expert in geoinformation science at Southwest Jiaotong University; Ferdie Mostert, a South African expert in international organizations and international communication at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China; and Petra Sörling, a Swedish cooperative expert at the Wuhou District Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Chengdu, who also serves as President of the International Table Tennis Federation and a Member of the International Olympic Committee.

On behalf of the provincial government, Shi Xiaolin extended congratulations in her address to the award-winning foreign experts and expressed gratitude to the international friends who have long cared for and supported Sichuan's development. She said that President Xi Jinping pointed out that countries cannot thrive without an international environment of open cooperation and that exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations begin with those among people. The Sichuan Friendship Award, established over twenty years ago as the highest honor conferred by the People's Government of Sichuan Province upon foreign experts, has been awarded to more than 100 recipients. These distinguished laureates have become a significant force in promoting openness and cooperation, talent exchanges, and mutual learning among civilizations, playing a proactive role in advancing Sichuan's high-quality development and high-standard opening up. She expressed the hope that all experts will continue to care for, support, and participate in Sichuan's development, applying their expertise in areas such as sci-tech innovation, industrial development, medicine and health, education and sports, and cultural exchanges. Together, let us promote economic growth, environmental protection, improvement of people's livelihoods, and international exchanges. They are encouraged to gain a deeper understanding of, experience firsthand, and share the vast panorama of Chinese modernization, champion diverse civilizations following the philosophy that each civilization appreciates its own beauty and shares in the beauty of others, and work hand in hand towards building a community with a shared future for humanity. Sichuan will continue to refine its mechanisms for attracting foreign talent, create a favorable development environment, and foster an atmosphere that respects, cares for, and supports the innovation and entrepreneurship of foreign professionals. The province will encourage employing entities to play their primary role in ensuring that the expertise of foreign talent aligns closely with Sichuan's development needs. Sichuan will leverage the role of foreign experts as bridges and links to expand international cooperation, facilitate the translation of outcomes into practical applications, and further forge a new pattern characterized by openness, cooperation, and mutual benefit.

At the award ceremony, Vice Governor of the People's Government of Sichuan Province Chen Shuping announced the conferral decision, and Petra Sörling delivered a speech on behalf of the award-winning experts.

Also present were Hu Yuankun, Secretary-General of the People's Government of Sichuan Province, representatives of recipients of the Chinese Government Friendship Award and the Sichuan Friendship Award, representatives of foreign experts and high-level talents from relevant universities, research institutes, and enterprises, as well as heads of pertinent provincial departments, among others.