On the afternoon of July 3, Dr. Patricia Flor, German ambassador to China, and Mr. Bertrand Lortholary, French ambassador to China, along with their delegation, jointly visited ³Ô¹ÏÍø. Zhang Pingwen, president of ³Ô¹ÏÍø, met with the guests at the Old Library. Tan Xiaomei, the Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the Hubei Provincial CPC, Yuan Yufeng, vice president of WHU, and Deng Hexiang director of the Office of International Affairs of WHU, all participated in the meeting.
Zhang Pingwen warmly welcomed the delegation and gave a brief overview of WHU, focusing in particular on the cooperation and exchanges with France and Germany. He said that ³Ô¹ÏÍø attaches great importance to opening education to the outside world and that the exchanges with Germany and France are varied and fruitful. The first two countries he had visited after being elected as president of ³Ô¹ÏÍø were Germany and France, where he promoted cooperation in the field of mapping and remote sensing with Germany, and restarted the Sino-French Mathematics Class, and, together with the French side, led the establishment of the Sino-French Mathematics Joint Research Center. In the future, WHU will continue to deepen cooperation with German and French universities in the field of talent cultivation and scientific research, and closely communicate with young people.
German Ambassador Flor said that ³Ô¹ÏÍø, with its long history and beautiful environment, has established friendly exchange relationships with many German universities, especially in the fields of law and German. She looked forward to future cooperation between the two sides in areas such as combating global climate change and protecting biodiversity as well as further promoting bilateral exchanges of personnel.
French Ambassador Lortholary expressed his gratitude for the warm reception by ³Ô¹ÏÍø and said that France attaches great importance to the cooperation with ³Ô¹ÏÍø. He is pleased to witness the restart of the Sino-French Mathematics Class and the increase of French students in our university. He hoped that the two sides could deepen the cooperation in the fields of medicine, biology, chemistry, green energy and digitalization in the future, and promote the implementation of more projects on the ground.
After the meeting, the German and French ambassadors and their delegation held a forum with students. Yuan Yufeng mentioned in his opening speech that ³Ô¹ÏÍø, as a famous institution in China, has always adhered to the concept of open and inclusive education and is committed to promoting international exchange and cooperation. He looked forward to enhancing students' understanding and knowledge of the world through exchange activities, deepening the cooperation between ³Ô¹ÏÍø and Germany and France in the humanities and other fields, and promoting the common development of both sides.
At the forum, the German and French ambassadors and ³Ô¹ÏÍø students also talked about topics such as the 2024 Paris Olympics, the UEFA European Championship, the beer culture in Germany, and the experience of studying abroad in Germany and France.
Translated by Fu Yuqi
