Renmin University of China and Complutense University of Madrid on Sunday jointly launched a research center in Spanish capital Madrid, with the aim of enhancing educational collaboration and promoting cultural exchange and mutual learning of civilizations between China and Spain.
The center will focus on areas such as social sciences, history, and fine arts, aiming to further strengthen people to people exchanges between the two countries.
Huai Jinpeng, China's minister of education; Zhang Donggang, Party secretary of Renmin University of China; Zhao Weimin, counsellor for education affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Spain; and Joaquín Goyache Goñi, rector of Complutense University of Madrid attended the launch ceremony.
Zhang and Goni jointly inaugurated the research facility and signed a cooperation agreement between the two universities.
The research center will focus on building cooperation in four key areas: promoting youth exchanges, deepening academic visits, advancing knowledge innovation and expanding dialogue on civilization.
"This research center seeks to unite leading academics and researchers, promoting an exchange not only of scholars but also of students. This initiative plays a crucial role in deepening our understanding of both countries’ cultures and shaping a shared vision for the future through collaboration," said Joaquin Goyache Goni, rector of Complutense University of Madrid.
"The purpose of the two universities from China and Spain establishing the center is to implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important initiative of global civilization, and is also to maintain the diversity of world civilizations, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and better maintain the development of world civilization and human progress," said Zhang.
Chinese, Spainish universities establish research center to promote cultural exchanges
Mulatu Teshome, former president of Ethiopia, highlighted on Tuesday how China's globally inclusive approach to development has benefited Ethiopia's connectivity and pathway to prosperity.
In an interview with Global Television Network, Teshome discussed the 2024 Understanding China Conference that kicked off in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on Tuesday. The statesman said the event's significance is articulated in its focal point -- Chinese modernization and new opportunities for the world.
"When China is talking about modernization, it's talking about the inclusiveness of the world, committed to prosper together, to grow together, to modernize together. And there is a very good developmental philosophy which has as got a very good connotation in President Xi Jinping's address. According to him, 'China looks forward to working with all other countries to create an enabling environment and conditions for development, tackling the many difficulties and challenges and facilitating the modernization of all countries, featuring peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity, in a bid to write a new chapter to building a community with a shared future for mankind.' It is very important," said the former Ethiopian president.
At this year's G20 summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the country's eight actions for promoting global development, with boosting high-quality Belt and Road Cooperation and supporting the development of Africa at the top of the agenda.
According to Teshome, his country and others in Africa have benefited from infrastructure projects under these cooperative initiatives, particularly the Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway.
"The key project, which is a showcase, is a railway project which was built from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. And not only that, the BRI is about connectivity, connecting China to other countries. Another good example is the Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopian Airlines flies every day to Guangzhou City, to Beijing, to several other cities in China. That connectivity really is not only about physical buildings of roads or railways. It has got a very deep meaning of friendship, the sentimental attachment between Africans and Chinese," he said.
China's commitment to shared prosperity brings connectivity, friendship: former Ethiopian president
