In the afternoon of June 19, the opening ceremony of “Ministerial Workshop of Urban Planning and Construction in Developing Countries in 2018” which is sponsored by China’s Ministry of Commerce and organized by International Training Base(Shanghai) for Commercial Officers, an affiliate of Department of Commerce of our school, was held in Fengpu Campus. He Ding, Vice-dean, and Cai Runyuan, Section Chief, from International Training College for Commercial Officers of China’s Ministry of Commerce, Ni Minjing, Deputy Director, and Cheng Beiyuan, an investigator from Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Shen Qing, Section Chief, and Li Zhen, Deputy Section Chief from Division of International Economic Cooperation under Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, and He Ying, Vice-president of our school, attended the ceremony. The ceremony was chaired by Chen Wei, Vice-dean of College of Continuing Education.

Workshop of current period is a multilateral project directed at developing countries and it will last for 7 days. A total of 28 officials from 8 countries such as Albania, Bahamas, Belarus, Mauritius, Liberia, Laos, Palestine and South Sudan etc. has participated in the workshop, and the students of the workshop include Minister and Vice-minister of Bahamas’s Engineering Department, Vice-minister of Liberia’s Earth and Mining Dept., President and 4 officers at the ministerial level from Albania’s Electoral Reform Commission. 

The ceremony was started with the speech delivered by Vice-dean He Ding on behalf of sponsor. She said that, Chinese government supports and helps developing countries to improve their capacity of independent development by adhering to the ideas of “Give people fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime”. The organization of workshop is of very important practical significance to the students who accepted the training as they would have the opportunity to have in-depth knowledge about the practical experience in urban planning and construction of Shanghai and China. 

(The picture shows the speech of Vice-dean He Ding)

Vice-president He Ying introduced the preparation and arrangement work that our school has made for the workshop of current period from aspects such as project design, management services and follow-up guarantee and so on. She hoped that the students who accepted the training would share their advanced experiences in Urban Planning and Construction through the workshop as a platform, and they could discuss the bottlenecks and problems that they have encountered in the urban planning and construction to jointly stand up to new environment and new challenges.

THOMAS DESMOND BANNISTER, Minister of Bahamas’ Engineering Department, on behalf of the class, expressed his sincere thanks to China's Ministry of Commerce (Sponsor) and Shanghai Business School (Organizer) for the effort that they have made for the workshop of current period. He believed that, they can learn new technologies and tools for Urban Planning and Construction of their home countries through the workshop as a platform.

Section Chief Shen Qing believed that Shanghai has made many attempts and practices in exploring development path of megacity and promoting the healthy and sustainable development of cities, and it has accumulated a wealth of experience and cases in this respect. She hoped that the workshop of current period provides everyone with the opportunities for mutual learning and exchanges and it serves as a bridge for China and developing countries to strengthen multi-field exchanges and deepen pragmatic cooperation.

(The picture shows the group photo of the opening ceremony of workshop)

Deputy director Ni Minjing believed that the workshop of current period is of great significance in developing affiliation with developing countries, enhancing friendship and promoting understanding, exchanges and cooperation. He hoped that our school should make sure that every activity is well organized according to the implementation scheme that has been carefully formulated, and he also hoped that the students who accepted the training would take full advantage of opportunity to attend the workshop and make broad thinking and in-depth communication. Make sure that the students obtain actual effect from the workshop and are able to transform the knowledge into the powerful driving force that promotes the urban development of their home countries. 

When the ceremony was finished, Vice-president He Ying and Vice-dean Chen Wei reported on implementation situations of foreign aid training of our school to Vice-dean He Ding and Section Chief Cai Runyuan. Vice-president He Ying expressed gratitude to International Training College for Commercial Officers of China’s Ministry of Commerce. for their support to the foreign aid training of our school, and she also said that our school would further focus on advantages in regional resources, pay attention to quality and content of foreign aid training and expand the influence of foreign aid training. Vice-dean He Ding and Section chief Cai Runyuan were highly complimentary about the mechanism and system of the foreign aid training of our school and they propose specific instructions and advice from aspects of curriculum provision, logistical support, personnel allocation and safety management etc., and they hoped that our school further give full play to the International Training Base for Commercial Officers as a platform and improve its quality and characteristics.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (Drafted by Commercial Officer Training Center)