From October 18th to 27th, the 9th Arab Officials Seminar was held by CARC at Songjiang Campus of SISU. This seminar was a seminar for Syrian officials, and 29 officials from various departments of the Syrian government participated in the training.
On the morning of the 19th, the opening ceremony was held at the International Education Center of Songjiang Campus. Li Yansong, President of SISU and Director of CARC; Xie Xiaoyan, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on Syria, and Suleia Idlibi, Deputy Director of the Syrian Plan and International Cooperation Agency, delivered speeches. Wang Guangda, Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Central Council, presided over the opening ceremony.
President Li Yansong first gave a welcome speech. He recalled that the center has successfully held nine seminars for officials of Arab countries since its establishment. This is the third time that the center has organized the seminar for Syrian officials. The friendship between China and Syria has a long history. Today, Syria is still a good partner for building Belt and Road. With the continuous deepening of bilateral relations, the scale and quality of Sino-Syrian cultural exchanges have steadily increased, especially the cooperation in science and education. President Li introduced the characteristics and the international perspective of SISU and expressed his willingness to carry out more exchanges and cooperation with Syrian universities and research institutions. He hoped to make more contributions to the pragmatic cooperation between the two sides under the framework of the “Belt and Road”.
On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Special Envoy Xie Xiaoyan welcomed the arrival of the participants and thanked SISU and CARC for their great efforts. He pointed out that Syria was one of the Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Despite the turmoil in Syria in recent years, the general direction of Sino-Syrian friendship has not changed. On the Syrian issue, China has always adhered to a political solution and actively promoted positive talks. China will continue to firmly support Syrian in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and support the Syrian people in determining their own country's future and destiny. As always, they will provide humanitarian assistance to refugees inside and outside Syria. It is hoped that by participating in this seminar, the participants will further deepen their understanding of the development of contemporary China and the participation of Chinese companies in overseas projects, enhance understanding and friendship, and lay a good foundation for future cooperation.
Deputy Director Suleia Idliby expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Shanghai Municipal Government and SISU. She thanked the Chinese government for its support for Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. China will be one of Syria's most important international partners in the next phase of reconstruction. President Bashar’s strategy of “looking eastward” is highly compatible with China’s Belt and Road initiative, and the two sides will cooperate in the field of infrastructure construction in the future. This seminar is an important step in the friendly and cooperative relations between China and Syria, which will help strengthen the exchange of knowledge and experience between the two sides in different aspects, and benefiting Syria's reconstruction and development.
During the seminar, the center organized a series of seminars and exchanges which were closely related to the theme of reform and development. Pan Shiwei, Vice Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, former Party Secretary of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; Ding Jun, member of Member of Shanghai Municipal Political Consultative Conference, Vice President of Islamic Association; Zhao Qizheng, former deputy mayor of Shanghai and former director of the State Council Information Office; Xiao Di, general manager of the Overseas Investment Department of China Communications Construction Co., Ltd., gave lectures on the theme of achievements and experiences of China's 40 years reform and opening up; China's national and religious policies; the rapid development of Pudong's economy; and the participation of Chinese companies in overseas infrastructure projects. During the lectures, the participants responded enthusiastically and actively in the discussion and put forward many valuable questions. During the listening and dialogue sessions of Expectations on Sino-Syrian Cooperation, the participants spoke out freely and discussed with Chinese scholars the possible problems of Sino-Syrian cooperation during the reconstruction phase.
In addition, the participants also visited the Shanghai City Planning Exhibition Hall, Shanghai Electric Group, G60 Science and Technology Corridor and other places, experiencing personally the China's development and governance achievements, adding confidence to the prospects of Sino-Syrian cooperation.
From the 21st to the 23rd, the participants visited CARC based in Yangzhou. Liu Yutong, deputy mayor of Yangzhou, and Jiang Xudong, deputy director of Yangzhou Foreign Affairs Office, met with the participants. Vice Mayor Liu Yutong welcomed the participants on behalf of the Yangzhou Municipal Government. He introduced the close contacts between Yangzhou and the Arab countries and hoped that the two sides would cooperate in suitable fields and projects in the future. On the morning of the 22nd, Xue Bingkuan, deputy director of the Yangzhou Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, introduced the experience of Yangzhou Old Town Reconstruction and New City Construction. After the discussion, the participants went to the Geyuan Garden and Dongguan Street to inspect the restoration of the garden and the development of historical and cultural blocks. During the period, the participants also visited the Master.Kong Factory, the Famsun Group, the China Block Printing Museum and Yangzhou Museum, experienced the happy life of the local residents and the new development concept of China in the Slender West Lake and Songjiacheng Sports and Leisure Park.
On the afternoon of the 26th, the graduation ceremony was held. Zha Mingjian, Vice President of SISU, and Suleia Idlibi, the Deputy Director of the Syrian Planning and International Cooperation Agency, delivered speeches.
Vice President Zha Mingjian congratulated the participants on the successful completion of the training. He pointed out that China's development path in line with national conditions is the basis and key to achieving all development results. The world today is in a state of great changes, China has chosen to firmly support multilateralism and promote the building of a Community of Shared Future for Mankind through the Belt and Road Initiative. Zha said that Sino-Syrian cooperation in education and think tank coincided with the moment and has a brilliant future. It is hoped that the two sides will strengthen exploration in terms of concept cognition, connotation construction and mechanism guarantee, and jointly build a long-term humanistic exchange and cooperation mechanism under the framework of the “Belt and Road”.
Deputy Director Suleia said that China's reform and development concept is full of wisdom in terms of theory and policy practice. The participants have learned the experience and achievements of China's economic and social development, especially the road to success in Shanghai's development. This seminar is an important step for the Sino-Syrian joint construction of the Belt and Road, upgrading the capacity of Syrian officials and promoting Syria's reconstruction. She expressed especially her gratitude to the Chinese side for their thoughtful arrangements and the enthusiasm and patience of the staff. The friendship between China and Syria has been sublimated.
It is the third time that CARC has held a seminar for Syria, focusing on reform and development and the reconstruction cooperation between China and Syria in the framework of the “Belt and Road”. Explaining Chinese experience and Chinese stories in a simple way for Syrian friends. Through personal experience, the participants strengthened their recognition of choosing a suitable way according to the national conditions, added confidence and enthusiasm for the future friendly cooperation between China and Syria, the role of CARC in the platform of the exchanges between China and the Arab countries has been fully proved.