On the morning of June 13, the opening ceremony of the Seventh Arab Seminar of CARC was held at the Songjiang Campus of SISU. This is a special seminar for Syrian officials consisting of 35 participants from various departments of the Syrian government.
Li Yansong, President of SISU, Director of CARC; Muhammad Abdin, Director of Engineering Research and Consulting of the Syrian Ministry of Public Works and Housing; Li Yongzhi, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission; Yang Weiren, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Education and Health Party Committee; Chen Tiecheng, member of the West Asia and North Africa Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was hosted by Wang Guangda, Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Central Council.
President Li Yansong first gave a welcome speech. He reviewed the friendship between China and Syria on the ancient Silk Road and pointed out that the two countries are currently good brothers and good partners in building “Belt and Road” to realize mutual benefit and win-win strategy. The issue of reconstruction is also an issue of development. The seminar aims at building a platform for dialogues and exchanges between the two countries on reform, opening up and economic construction. CARC has successfully held six seminars which involved 167 senior officials from Arab countries. It has played an important role in promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and Arab countries in the fields of governance, reform and development, achieved remarkable results. In particular, he mentioned the fifth Arab Officials Seminar held in May last year, namely the Syrian Reconstruction and Development Seminar, which was participated by 11 Syrian officials. As the organizer of CARC, SISU will continue to give full play to foreign language talents and regional country research advantages, and make active efforts for the development of Sino-Arab and Sino-Syrian relations.
Director Muhammad Abdin expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Shanghai Municipal Government and SISU. He pointed out that Syria-China friendly relations are based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. The Syrian people appreciate China's support for Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. China is one of Syria's most important international partners. In recent years, relations between the two countries have developed rapidly in many fields, including politics, economy, society and culture. The holding of seminars for Syrian officials is a full proof of the active cooperation between the two sides. It is hoped that China will become an important participant in the reconstruction of Syria. Syria is willing to cooperate with various Chinese enterprises under the framework of the “Belt and Road” initiative.
Deputy Director Li Yongzhi, on behalf of the Shanghai Education Commission, welcomed the arrival of the participants and thanked SISU and CARC for their great efforts. He emphasized that China firmly supports the political settlement of the Syrian crisis and insists on dialogue and consultation based on the fundamental interests of the Syrian people. As the pioneer of China's reform, opening up, innovation and development, Shanghai actively promotes exchanges and cooperation with countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”, and integrates various resources with CARC to actively promote academic and people-to-people exchanges between China and Arab countries. The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission will continue to pay close attention to the development of CARC, provide support and fulfil the mission of being “bigger and stronger”, strive to make greater contributions to promote cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries and deepen mutual understanding between China and Arab civilizations.
During the ten-day training program, the participants will discuss with China's experts and scholars through professional lectures and listening dialogues on the basic experience of China's 40 years of reform and opening up, the new era of China's big country diplomacy, the China-Arab joint construction of the “Belt and Road” and Chinese enterprises’s experience in participating in offshore infrastructure projects. At the same time, the center arranged a variety of on-the-spot visits and study activities for the participants. It is hoped that the participants will personally experience the development achievements of China's reform and opening up and explore the path of China-Arab reform and development cooperation in practice.
(Zhao Jing, from CARC)