The first meeting and supporting activities of the China-India High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges were held in New Delhi and Aurangabad from December 20th to December 22nd, 2018. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian State Councilor Swaraj co-chaired the first meeting. Professor Liu Hongyi, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen University, was invited to participate in this event. The delegation was accompanied by members from the Indian Research Center, the Department of International Exchange and Cooperation, and other departments of the University.
On the morning of December 20th, the First Meeting of the China-India High-Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges - China-India Language and Culture Seminar was held in New Delhi. The conference was hosted by Shenzhen University and the Chinese Embassy in India and co-organized by the Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban Office and the Lovely Professional University in India. Li Bijian, Minister of the Chinese Embassy in India, Raj Kumar, President of the Indian Jindal University, and Ma Jianfei, Head of the Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban, attended the seminar. As one of the results, Shenzhen University and Nehru University signed the “Memorandum of Academic Cooperation.” The two sides exchanged views on issues such as cultural exchanges, academic cooperation, teacher-student exchanges, Chinese language education, and Indian language education. Discussion and consultation on related matters such as co-founding educational institutions were carried out.
On the evening of December 21st, the visiting delegation of Shenzhen University attended the opening ceremony and cultural night of the High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges.
On December 22, Liu Hongyi and the delegation visited the University of Ambedkar in Aurangabad, India, to attend the closing ceremony of the “Dialogue of Civilizations between India and China”. This was one of the supporting activities for the First Meeting of the China-India High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges. Liu Hongyi held a discussion with Professor B.A. Chopada, President of Ambedkar University. The two sides held in-depth consultations on teachers, students' international exchanges, and scientific research project cooperation, and signed a Letter of Intent for Cooperation to actively promote the international cooperation between the two universities. At the closing ceremony, Liu Hongyi and Chopada exchanged Letters of Intent for Cooperation under the witness of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui. Liu Hongyi also informed Wang Yi about the achievements of Shenzhen University in recent years. Wang Yi highly praised the progress of Shenzhen University and the development of international cooperation.
During the visit, Liu Hongyi and his delegation also met with Lokesh Chandra, former chairman of the Indian Council on Cultural Relations, and B.R. Deepak, a famous Indian sinologist, to strengthen Sino-Indian language and cultural exchanges and promote the translation of Chinese and Indian classical literature.
The fifth party congress of Shenzhen University put forward the development goal of “in-depth implementation of internationalization strategy and improvement of internationalization level”, continuously improve the level and quality of international education, increase international cooperation in teaching and research, expand global cooperation network, and strengthen the cooperation and cultural exchanges between the universities of the countries along the route of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. Meanwhile, the university should work to strengthen the educational cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area, and fulfill its mission of making Chinese culture global. During the visit, Shenzhen University and Nehru University and Ambedkar University have achieved positive results in language education and cultural exchanges and cooperation.
（Contributed by Department of International Exchanges and Cooperation）
