Global Civilization Dialogues 'Rendezvous with the Orchid' event held in Sydney

Carrillo Gantner, an adjunct professor at the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture of Western Sydney University and the inaugural Orchid Awards' Friendship Envoy Award winner, poses for photos with his family members during the Global Civilization Dialogues "Rendezvous with the Orchid" in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 12, 2024. Global Civilization Dialogues "Rendezvous with the Orchid," a cultural exchange event based on the platform of Orchid Awards, was held in Sydney on Thursday. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

Global Civilization Dialogues "Rendezvous with the Orchid," a cultural exchange event based on the platform of Orchid Awards, was held in Sydney on Thursday.

The event was guided by the State Council Information Office of China, hosted by China International Communications Group, and organized by the Orchid Awards Secretariat and the China Center for International Communication Development.

Dozens of representatives of both countries' government institutions, people from literary and art circles, experts and scholars from universities and think tanks, leaders of relevant associations and organizations, and media representatives attended the event. They shared views in the Orchid Awards Cultural Salon, which is a part of the event, on the theme of "Embracing Cultural Diversity."

The "Sweet Scent of Orchids: Cultural Envoys Connecting Civilizations," a book about the inaugural Orchid Awards and the awards winners, was launched by the organizers at the event.

According to the organizers, the people of China and Australia have forged a longstanding amicable bond, and cultural exchange serves as the inexhaustible driving force for the development of China-Australia relations.

The organizers aspired to promote China-Australia exchange and forge even stronger bonds of friendship between the two countries through the "Rendezvous with the Orchid" event, so as to contribute to enriching world civilizations and strengthening China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership.

Carrillo Gantner, an adjunct professor at the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University, is the inaugural Orchid Awards' Friendship Envoy Award winner. He said that the orchid award he had received is not so much a personal honor but an acknowledgment of the role of artists and cultural workers as the true friendship ambassadors.

"Artists believe in the potential for good, for richer and more positive relations between individuals and therefore between countries," he said.

Nothing is more important and challenging than the creation of understanding and trust between individuals from vast, different backgrounds. Relationships between countries, after all, are the sum total of all such personal relationships between the peoples on each side, Gantner said.

"So the responsibility of each of us as individuals is to do what we can to add our single bricks of friendship, to the great wall of trust that we must build between our countries," he added.