In cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Japan, Sumitomo Corporation has provided financial support for about 600 high school students who would otherwise be unable to continue their education because of poverty in Malipo county and Jinping county in China's Yunnan Province.

Malipo and Jinping are located about 450 km away from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, near the border with Vietnam. They are situated in a basin high up in the mountains at an altitude of about 1,200 m. The area is home to minority ethnic groups including Miao and Hani, who follow an agricultural way of life, making their living cultivating bananas and other fruits and growing rice on terraces on the sides of the mountains.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been supporting both counties since 1992, dispatching resident officials to oversee the improvement of infrastructure and education, health and hygiene services, among others. Recently, staff from Sumitomo Corporation headquarters and Sumitomo Corporation (China) Holding Ltd. (Beijing) visited the site with cooperation provided by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy. As well as meeting with local administrative officials, the staff visited three high schools participating in the program and met with students. In the meeting with administrative officials, the visitors heard how carefully the funds have been managed, while the students expressed their delight in being able to continue their schooling and talked about their hopes for the future. One student told how "My mother became sick, so I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to stay at school, but thanks to Sumitomo Corporation's financial support program, I didn't have to quit." Another said, "After graduating from high school--which I will be able to do, thanks to the financial support from Sumitomo Corporation--I want to study medicine at university."

Sumitomo Corporation is proud to be able to contribute to the development of human resources for the next generation through these and other activities.