On May 8th, Mr. Yang Xiong, Mayor of Shanghai, heading around 30 enterprises and institutions leaders, together with personnel from Turkish industrial and commercial circles, held Shanghai-Istanbul One Belt and One Road Economic and Trade Forum,. Chairman of the DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey) and more than 100 government officials and industry delegates from both China and Turkey, were present at the meeting. As the only representative of colleges and universities, Prof. Huang Youfang, President of SMU, attended the forum.
Mr. Yang Xiong said that President Xi Jinping’s propose of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road not only gives the ancient Silk Road a modern connotation, but also provides more opportunities for deepening cooperation between the two sister cities, Shanghai and Istanbul. Mr. Yang also mentioned that Shanghai would like to seek mutual benefits and promote win-win cooperation with Istanbul, so that the two cities set an example of mutual development through the “One Belt and One Road” project.
Mr. ?mer Cihad Vardan, President of DEIK said that Turkish industrial and commercial circles are taking active steps to develop cooperative relations with Chinese industrial and commercial circles, especially in the fields of education, energy, tourism and city construction.
In the evening, Prof. Huang Youfang was invited to attend the bilateral business meeting, hosted by Major of Shanghai and Mayor of Istanbul. During the meeting, Prof. Huang gave a report on the new opportunities of the project “One Belt and One Road”. He said, the formulation and implement of the project make new requests on universities and bring unprecedented opportunities for joint study in talent training and for the construction of new think-tank in the universities. The construction of this project needs massive top-notch talent who can adapt themselves to the international shipping and logistics competitions. Prof. Huang stressed that SMU will take full advantage of its specialties and serve the project of One Belt and One Road, and commit itself to the development of the Yangtze River Economic Zone as well as to the constructions of Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Shanghai International Shipping Center.
