From April 20 to 28, 2015, President NING Bin was invited to attend the Inauguration Ceremony of the Establishment of Confucius Institute between BJTU and the State University of Campinas, Brazil and visit the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and the National University of Lanús (UNLA) in Argentina, DB Bahn in Germany, the Subway Operation and Maintenance Center of Rio de Janeiro, China Railway Construction Corp and CRRC Corporation Ltd. in Brazil.
On April 20, the delegation visited DB Bahn and held talks with CEO Dieter Michell-Auli. Both sides spoke highly of the achievements have made since the signing of the cooperation agreement in 2012 and reached consensus on the future collaborations on high-speed railway, railway maintenance and management, operational technology and training. They also discussed the possibilities of conducting cooperation in South Africa and Latin America and have agreed to lifted bilateral relations to a higher level.
On April 22, the delegation attended the Inauguration Ceremony of the Establishment of Confucius Institute between BJTU and the State University of Campinas (UniversidadeEstatual de Campinas, UNICAMP), Brazil. Prof. NING Bin, President of Beijing Jiaotong University and Prof. José Tadeu Jorge, President of the State University of Campinas jointly inaugurated for the establishment of the State University of Campinas Confucius Institute. Shi Zequn, Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Brazil, CHENG Baoxiang, Deputy Consul-General of Consulate General in St. Paul and Mr. Jonas Donizette, Mayor of Campinas, also attended the ceremony and made speeches. Afterwards, the guests viewed the cultural show given by BJTU Art Troupe and the “Beautiful China” photo exhibition. They exchanged views with Brazilian teachers and students on respective culture and history. President NING Bin also accepted the interviews by CCTV, Xinhua News Agency and CRI.
During the visit at UNICAMP, Prof. NING Bin conducted in-depth discussion with Prof. José Tadeu Jorge on the future collaboration between the two universities. He hoped that both sides would utilize the Confucius Institute as a platform to further strengthen exchange and cooperation. Prof. José Tadeu Jorge added that UNICAMP would utilize the strength of BJTU on rail transit and logistics to conduct cooperation in the fields of science, technology and talent cultivation and participate more in the technological and cultural exchange between Brazil and China. Also, Prof. NING Bin invited Prof. José Tadeu Jorge and his team to visit BJTU as soon as possible and identify the details of further collaboration.
Prof. NING Bin, as the Chairperson, hosted the first meeting of the Board of Confucius Institute at UNICAMP and discussed the first five-year planning and annual work plan with UNICAMP Vice President (Foreign Affairs) and Dean of the Confucius Institute on the Chinese side.
On April 26, the delegation visited the Subway Operation and Maintenance Center of Rio de Janeiro and exchanged views with representatives from China CNR Corporation Ltd.
On April 27, the delegation visited the National University of Lanús (UNLA) and held talks with Vice President Prof. Neirotti, deans of related departments and representatives from the Schools Coalition. NING Bin spoke highly of the cooperation and exchange conducted between the two universities. Both sides have reached a couple of consensuses and signed MoU on teachers and students exchange in the fields of Rail Transit, Economics and Management and Spanish.
During the visit at UNLA, NING Bin was invited to give a speech entitled “BJTU and Development of China’s Rail Transit Technology”, introducing China’s rail transit and especially the technology of high-speed railway and development of urban railway technology.
On April 28, the delegation was invited to visit the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). It has established the first Confucius Institute in Argentina with Jilin University and won the title of “excellent Confucius Institute” many times. Prof. Morlegan, Dean of the Confucius Institute on the Argentinean side, elaborated on the school-running feature and experience of the Confucius Institute. Besides, both sides have conducted in-depth discussion on teachers collaboration and students joint education in the fields of Economics and Management, Engineering and Spanish.
During the visit in Brazil and Argentina, the delegation also exchanged views with representatives from several Chinese enterprises including China Railway Construction Corp, CRRC Corporation Ltd., CITIC Group and China Railway Signal & Communication Corp. Besides, the delegation visited the Manaus Free Trade Zone and new industrial area in Buenos Aires, which gave them more insights into the current and future development, talent demand and challenges of the countries.
BJTU’s visit of the three countries was a complete success and has achieved the desired objectives, which consolidated the existing partnership with Latin American universities and expanded new models and fields of cooperation. We have reached a couple of consensuses with Latin American universities and Chinese enterprises, which has laid a good foundation for the further all-round and multi-level cooperation as well as China’s initiative of “going global”. Meanwhile, this visit was a great significance on the internationalization layout of BJTU.
Principals from the Office of Human Resources, School of Languages and Communication Studies and Office of International Affairs also visited the three countries.
