Two non-government organizations (NGOs) that teamed US and Chinese volunteers together in Xi'an, provincial capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province are planning to dispatch volunteers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), agency executives said Thursday. 

The US-based Global Volunteers and the Xi'an-based Sino-American Society are sharing a common goal as they send teams of Chinese and US volunteers to the DPRK, Global Volunteers CEO Bud Philbrook said yesterday.

Philbrook was in Xi'an for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the partnership between the two NGOs.

Eighty-three US volunteers gathered yesterday in Xi'an to start their three-week volunteer placements to serve local residents.

The US volunteers are linked with Philbrook's organization, which has been working in Shaanxi Province at the invitation of the Sino-American Society since 1996.

"With the long-term relationship between China and the DPRK, it is our hope that the North Koreans will extend an invitation to Global Volunteers through the Sino-American Society," Philbrook said.

The organizations are planning to expand the current program, Society President An Wei told China Daily.

Philbrook revealed that Global Volunteers will establish programs in other Chinese provinces.

For the first time, the Sino-American Society will send Chinese volunteers to serve in communities in the United States starting later this year or early next year.

Under the current program, teams of volunteers share knowledge and expertise with Chinese counterparts in business, law and healthcare, as well as teaching conversational English to boys and girls in kindergartens and in schools.

(China Daily May 14, 2004)