On the evening of October 27,2021(GMT+8), the Opening Ceremony for " Seminar on Trade Promotion for Belt and Road Countries " hosted by Ministry of Commerce and organized by MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai) was held online. Mr. Fang Meng from Division of Foreign Economic Cooperation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce , and Ms. Dai Ying, Vice Dean of the College of International Education of SBS attended the opening ceremony.
Fang Meng pointed out that following the principle of “extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”, the BRI has been transformed from concept to action and from vision to reality. It has grown into one of the world’s largest international cooperation platforms with rising international influence. At present, the global economic and trade recovery faces great uncertainty. During the pandemic, the BRI has served as a platform for smooth trade between China and related countries, bringing Belt and Road countries closer to jointly promote economic development, China's economic and trade cooperation with them has risen against the trend, highlighting the resilience of their economic and trade relations.
(Main site of the ceremony)
Dai Ying said that in the context of economic globalization, the structural trade between countries in the world is becoming more complex. The introduction of the Belt and Road initiative has provided new ideas and strong support for investment cooperation between China and relevant countries, and international trade has ushered in new development opportunities. Therefore, this Seminar aims to share the accumulated advanced experience in promoting trade cooperation, discuss the bottlenecks and problems in this field, and jointly deal with the new environment and challenges. In terms of research exchanges, SBS will invite experts and scholars from the Strategic Research Institute of Shanghai International Trade Center, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, East China University of Political Science and Law, and Shanghai Free Trade Zone United Development Co., Ltd. They will share their practical experience and research results from various aspects such as the development of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, CIIE, Shanghai International Trade Center construction, Shanghai’s practice and experience in improving the business environment, and the innovation and reform of China’s foreign investment law.
Mr. Arish Ismailov, an expert from the Transport Policy Department of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technology of Azerbaijan, delivered a speech on behalf of all the participants. He thanked the Ministry of Commerce of China and Shanghai Business School for their efforts to successfully organize this Seminar. He said that the Belt and Road countries are facing quite a few challenges in the process of trade cooperation and each developing country is taking different measures. By learning from China’s ideas and practices in this field, they will definitely be able to develop new ideas, so as to apply what they have learned, and contribute to the improvement of the level of domestic trade development.
The Seminar lasts for 14 days, 45 government officials from 13 countries have participated, including Azerbaijan, Cuba, Ethiopia, Kiribati, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Written by: Guan Rui
Photographed by: Li Zheng
Reviewed by: Chen Wei
