The Second Board of China-Arab Reform and Development Research Center and Its First Session Convened in Yangzhou
On October 31, the Second Board of China-Arab Reform and Development Research Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center ) held its first meeting at the Center’s Yangzhou base. The meeting was attended by Wang Di, Chief of the Asia-Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Li Chengwen, Ambassador for the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum; Fang Jun, Deputy Chief of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education; Yu Lijuan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government; Li Yansong, President of Shanghai International Studies University; and the newly recruited members of the Second Board of the Centre.
The general meeting of the board was presided over by Li Yansong. Yu Ting, Vice Mayor of Yangzhou, gave a welcoming speech and said he would further support the Center, promote complementary advantages, share resources, and enhance the influence of both sides. Prof. Wang Guangda, Executive Director of the Center, reported on the work of the first board. Zhao Liang, Counsellor and Director of the Forum and Multilateral Affairs Branch of the Asia-Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained the amendments to the statute of the board.
The first session of the Second Board was chaired by Li Chengwen. Representatives and members of the center presented their constructive advice for a bigger and stronger center providing more intellectual support for China and Arabs .
In his speech, Li Yansong expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Municipal Government for their long-term guidance and support to the Centre.
In his speech, Fang Jun pointed out that the next stage of the Center should focus on three services, namely, serving the construction of first-class universities and disciplines, serving the development of relevant key regions of the country, and serving the overall diplomatic strategy of the country. The Ministry of Education will organize related resources and actively support the development of the Center.
Yu Lijuan pointed out that the General Secretary's important instructions to the Center are not only an approval of the work of the Center, but also an important adherence to the work of the Center. She put forward three requirements for the next construction of the center: first, as the top priority of the national think-tank and Shanghai's Belt and Road bridgehead plan, the Center must adhere to its original mission and work closely around serving the country's Belt and Road and its diplomatic strategy with Arab countries; second, it is necessary to strengthen capacity-building and firmly grasp the development orientation of world-class think-tank bases and international platforms for the exchange of ideas; and third, it is necessary to strengthen and create a better environment for the construction and development of the Center.
Wang Di expressed as following: in the past three years since its establishment, the Center, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Municipal Government, has actively propagated Xi Jinping's thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and Xi's diplomatic thinking, relying on the Shanghai Foreign Studies University, closely following the overall domestic and international situation and combining with the actual work of Arab countries. In an important speech at the opening ceremony of the 8th Ministerial Meeting of the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum, Xi pointed out that the center should become bigger and stronger in the future and provide more intellectual support for both sides . In the face of the new situation, new tasks and new requirements, the Center should find the right position, give full play to its own advantages and characteristics, build fine products in the spirit of nails , and build a high-end think tank and exchange platform to serve the overall situation of diplomacy, deepen Sino-Arab friendly cooperation, and exchange experience in states governance and administration in the new period.
The first session of the Second Board is for the Center’s next stage of construction and development. In the new historical period, in the face of new tasks and challenges, the Center will, with the joint efforts of the partners, follow President Xi's requirements of becoming bigger and stronger, providing more intellectual support for both sides and contribute to the diplomacy of a great power with Chinese characteristics in the new era.
The China-Arab Reform and Development Research Center is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Municipal Government and hosted by Shanghai International Studies University. In the new board, Wang Di, Chief of the Asia-Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fang Jun, Deputy Chief of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education, Yu Lijuan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government, and Jiang Feng, Party Secretary of Shanghai International Studies University, will serve as honorary directors, while Li Yansong, President of Shanghai International Studies University, will serve as the Chairman.