On the evening of July 8,2021(GMT+8), the Opening Ceremony for " Seminar for State-Owned Enterprise Executives of Developing Countries " hosted by Ministry of Commerce and organized by MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai) was held online. Ms. Liu Beimin, Researcher with Division of Foreign Economic Cooperation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce , and Mr. Chen Wei, Executive Vice Dean of the College of International Education of SBS attended the opening ceremony.

Ms. Liu Beimin pointed out that for a long time, Shanghai has been a place of strategic importance for state-owned assets, since it is the base of a high weight of state-owned enterprises which have played an important role in Shanghai’s economic and social development. Shanghai not only acts as a practitioner and beneficiary of China’s reform and opening up, but also shoulders the vital roles of a pioneer in reform and opening up and a forerunner in innovation and development. She hoped that, taking the opportunity of the Seminar, all fellow participants can further know the achievements of Shanghai’s reform and opening up, learn about the reform, innovation and development of Chinese state-owned enterprises, especially those based in Shanghai, share and exchange experience and ideas in the management and reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, and further enhance the exchanges and cooperation between enterprises of various countries.

Mr. Chen Wei said that our university has made adequate arrangements  based on the needs of the participants from different countries and  regions. Besides, virtual display, expert explanation, and Q&A with  discussion will be set in a progressive way to share Chinese practical  experience and research achievements in the fields of state-owned  enterprise mergers and acquisitions, state-owned enterprise development  strategies, state-owned enterprise reforms, and so on. Therefore, all  participants can share advanced experience, discuss the bottlenecks and  challenges occurring in this field, and jointly cope with the new  environment and new challenges.

Mr. Fredrick Gume, Minister of State for Trade of Industry and Cooperatives from the Republic of Uganda, delivered a speech on behalf of all participants. He said that the developing world has had a fair share of challenges facing the management of state owned enterprises especially the boards charged with executive powers to run these enterprises, so there are steps that every government in the developing worlds is taking and with the help of development partners like China, he expects a drastic change on how these enterprises are run and also expects to witness their contribution to the economic development of the respective countries.

The seminar lasts for 14 days, 106 government officials from 13 countries have participated, including the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Iraq, Jamaica, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Malawi, the Mongolian People’s Republic, the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the Republic of Uganda, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Written by: Guan Rui

Photographed by: Li Zheng

Reviewed by: Chen Wei