From December 11 to 16, at the invitation of the Nigerian Ministry of Transportation and the Ethiopian Railway Corporation, a CSU delegation led by President Tian Hongqi visited Nigeria and Ethiopia. The visit aims to survey the status and demands of railway development in Africa, and seek greater cooperation with African nations on such areas as science and technology and talent training, an active response to the Belt and Road Initiative andthe “Go Global” strategy for Chinese rail. President Tian was accompanied by Vice President Huang Jianling and leaders and experts from relevant functional departments and schools.
The delegation met respectively with the Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Tan Jian and the Commercial Counsellor Liu Yu. Both Tan and Liu have spoken highly of CSU’s active response to the Belt and Road Initiative and the “Go Global” strategy for Chinese rail. Tian Hongqi introduced CSU’s development and international cooperation strategy, and discussed the cooperation with Ethiopia on international railway institute, medicine and resources development.
During the visit, the delegation met respectively with the executive secretary of the Nigerian Ministry of Transportation, the CEO of Ethiopian Railway Corporation and the executive secretary of Ethiopian Ministry of Education. A survey has been made on both countries’ urgent demands for railway talent training and education cooperation. As witnessed by the deputy director of Nigerian Ministry of Transportation, the Deputy Secretary General of China Scholarship Council Wang Shenggang who was on visit in Nigeria, and the President Tian Hongqi, CSU and Ahmadu Bello University signed a MOU. In Ethiopia, CSU and Addis Ababa University signed a MOU. CSU and the two universities reached broad consensus on joint efforts in railway talent training, teacher and student exchanges and cultural exchanges in summer holidays.
The delegation also discussed with Wang Shenggang on how to increase the number of Nigerian students in China and conduct national and regional research. At the same time, an investigation was made to the Nigerian urban rail transit project undertaken by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and other Chinese companies as well as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway which ishailed as “Tanzam Railway in the New Era”. The delegation visited 40-plus CSU alumni who were working on the railway construction projects and gave full recognition to their passion, commitment and contributions to the railway projects and the Belt and Road Initiative despite the hardships. The alumni extended their sincere appreciation to the delegation for the visit, and vowed to practice the CSU’s spirit of pragmatism and responsibility and win honor for China and CSU.
The visit was made possible withCCECC’s support and thoughtful arrangements. The CCECC Vice President Zhang Wenjin escorted the delegation during the entire visit.
