On the night of May 13, 2021 Beijing Time, the opening ceremony of the “Seminar on Management and Application of Modern Rail Transportation for Developing Countries” was held online. The seminar was sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, and undertaken by the MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai)（hereinafter referred to Shanghai Training Base）. Present at the opening ceremony were Chen Runyun, Deputy Dean of the MOFCOM Training Faculty for International Business Officials (Shanghai); Deputy Directors Duan Weihua and Wang Yujian of Program Management Office II, the Training Center of the Ministry of Commerce; Fang Meng from the Foreign Economic Cooperation Department of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce; Gong Lian, Deputy Dean of China Railway Shanghai Design Institute Group Co., Ltd.; and He Ying, Vice President of SBS.

Chen Runyun pointed out that, in the special period of the ongoing spread of COVID-19 across the globe, the Chinese people and peoples all over the world offered timely help for each other to overcome the difficulties. They presented the best interpretation of the time spirit of jointly building a community with shared future for mankind. He said that this seminar offered an opportunity for China to share its ideas, practices, and policies regarding the management and application of modern rail transportation. He also added that, by developing a “three-in-one” interconnected pattern (i.e., infrastructure, regulatory framework, and personnel exchange), China would provide conveniences for countries all over the world in terms of economic development, materials circulation, and personnel exchange, so that more people can share the achievements of the “Belt and Road” Initiative.

He Ying said that China had always cherished the friendship and cooperative relationship with other developing countries, and would be willing to engage in close collaboration and mutual support with participating countries. She stressed that this collaboration would improve the exchange and cooperation levels among all the parties concerned in many fields, especially the field of the management and application of modern rail transportation, and contribute to the co-building of a community with shared future for mankind. In the end, she expressed her hope that, relying on the seminar as a platform, trainees from different countries would actively share their advanced experience in the management and application of modern rail transportation, energetically discuss the bottlenecks and problems encountered in this field, and jointly respond to new environments and new challenges.

Gong Lian emphasized the importance of the seminar as a bridge between China and the world, saying that the seminar exhibited the achievements of China’s infrastructure construction to international friends and would help to deepen the mutual trust and cooperation between China and other countries. He also expressed the wish that, after the training, the friendship between China and the participating countries would “remain forever fresh like pine and cypress trees, and be long-standing and well-established like high mountains and flowing water”.

Angel Salvador Tejeda Cuevas, Dominican Vice Minister of Public Works, spoke on behalf of all trainees, saying that the seminar would be a unique journey of new knowledge and experience for him. He thanked the Chinese side for their great efforts and for creating bilateral and multilateral cooperation opportunities for China and other participating countries. He expressed his hope that everyone would gain knowledge and experience from the seminar.

Abubakar Aliyu Ibrahim, Deputy Director of the Nigeria Auditing Bureau of Bauchi State, delivered a speech: “China has linked up the whole country by its high-speed railway system. The next step for China is to bring its modern railway technology to other countries in the world, especially African countries.” After pointing out that Nigeria faced the enormous challenge of inadequate railway infrastructure, he hoped that China would be able to help Nigeria, and African countries in general, improve their railway infrastructure construction level.

The seminar is the first online foreign-aid training program conducted by SBS since the outbreak of COVID-19, marking that we have fully launched our online foreign-aid training programs. The 14-day seminar is expected to welcome 89 government officials from 19 countries, including Azerbaijan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Dominica, Panama, Brazil, Morocco, and Chile.

To properly organize the seminar and other training programs, we have actively embraced the new challenges and new situations in foreign-aid training, and made full preparations and unremitting efforts to develop new online management service platform and new online training models for our trainees. In addition, we have established sound online training procedures, training management measures, and emergency response plans to guarantee the success of the seminar.

Contribution: MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai)