On the evening (GMT+8) of May 13th, 2021, the opening ceremony of the Seminar on Management and Application of Modern Rail Transportation for Developing Countries was held online. This seminar was sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of People’s Republic of China and organized by MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai). Attendants upon this ceremony included Mr. Chen Runyun, Vice President of the Academy for International Officials, Ms. Duan Weihua, Deputy Director, Mr. Wang Yujian, Deputy Director, Project Management Division II, Training Center, Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Fang Meng from Division of International Economic Cooperation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Mr. Gong Lian, Deputy Dean of China Railway Shanghai Design Institute Group Co., LTD. and Ms. He Ying, Vice President of Shanghai Business School.
(main setting of the opening ceremony)
As Mr. Chen Runyun pointed out, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread globally. The cooperation and mutual help between Chinese people and people around the world have showcased the meaning of building a global community of shared future in times of difficulty. He said this seminar aimed to share the idea, practices and policies of China in management and application of modern rail transportation. With the vision of building an interconnection pattern that integrates infrastructure, rules and institutions, and personnel exchanges, this seminar is expected to facilitate economic development, physical circulation and people mobility, allowing more people to share the achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation.
(Vice President Chen Runyun delivering a speech in Beijing )
Ms. He Ying said that China has always attached great importance to the friendship and cooperation with developing countries and is ready to develop close cooperation and engage in mutual support to improve the exchanges in the management and application of modern rail transportation and to build a global community of shared future. Therefore, she encouraged participants of the seminar to share experience in the management and application of rail transportation and discuss difficulties and bottlenecks to address new challenges in the new environment through common efforts.
Mr. Gong Lian, Vice Dean of China Railway Shanghai Design Institute Group Co., LTD., stressed that this seminar, as a bridge between China and the rest of the world, would show the achievements of China in infrastructure construction to more international friends and play a vital role in enhancing mutual trust and cooperation. He also hoped that through this seminar the friendship between China and other countries could thrive like evergreen trees and endure like high mountains and long waters.
On behalf of all the trainees, Mr. Angel Salvador Tejeda Cuevas, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Public Works of Dominican Republic, delivered a speech. He said attending the seminar would be a unique experience full of knowledge. He extended his gratitude to China for the efforts, encouraged more bilateral and multilateral cooperation between China and countries which trainees are from and hoped trainees could gain knowledge and experience from this seminar.
(Deputy Minister Angel Salvador Tejeda Cuevas addressing the ceremony)
Mr. Abubakar Aliyu Ibrahim, Deputy Director General of Auditor Bureau of Bauchi State, Nigeria, also addressed the ceremony. He said that, "china has already connected its entire country with fast high speed rail systems, now the question is that how can China shifts its developmental rail modernization to other parts of the world especially the African countries". Nigeria is faced with a huge challenge of lacking railway transportation infrastructure. So he hoped China could help African countries improve their rail infrastructure development.
This seminar, which is the first held in the midst of the pandemic, signifies the full start of online foreign aid programs by Shanghai Business School. This fourteen-day seminar has attracted 89 government officials from 19 countries including Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Dominica, Panama, Brazil, Morocco and Chile.
(A snapshot of the online ceremony)
In order to make this seminar and following ones effective, Shanghai Business School has coped with challenges actively and made adequate preparation to build an online trainee management platform. Based on the online model of foreign aid programs, new training procedures, management approaches and emergency response plans have also been formulated to ensure the success of the online seminar.
Written by: Sun Ya
Photographed by: Li Zheng
Reviewed by: Chen Wei
