Aisak Pue, Vice President of the Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment (PNG UNRE) led a delegation to visit Wuyi University (WYU) for exchanges in the afternoon on September 11. Tiangang Luan, Chancellor of WYU, and Yunhua Zhang, President of WYU, received the delegation.
Luan met with the delegation and the two universities signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation. After expressing his warm welcome to the delegation, Luan introduced the history of WYU, the characteristics of its disciplines, as well as WYU’s major progress in international exchanges and cooperation. He emphasized that the Pacific island countries have close ties of friendship with Jiangmen, which is called the capital of overseas Chinese because most of the overseas Chinese in Papua New Guinea are from Jiangmen. Located in Jiangmen, WYU brings its overseas Chinese resources into full play to serve China’s major strategies for development. The establishment of China-Pacific Island Countries Center for Disaster Risk Reduction Cooperation (Cooperation Center) enables WYU to serve the society by providing it with a major platform for talent training and scientific research in the filed of disaster prevention and mitigation.The signing of the MOU, which strengthens the cooperation on tackling climate change between China and Pacific island countries, will bring a new opportunity to WYU to contribute to realizing a China-Pacific island countries community of shared future through education. He hoped that through this visit and the exchange between both sides, a bridge of friendship would be built for both universities to deepen cooperation for mutual development by sharing resources and complementing each other.
Pue expressed his gratitude to WYU for the careful arrangement, followed by a speech about the profile of Papua New Guinea and as well as the founding and development of PNG UNRE. He emphasized that Papua New Guinea and China have a long history of friendly relations with a deep sense of brotherhood. It is very worthwhile to visit WYU for collaborations as Papua New Guinea is facing challenges such as frequent occurrence of natural disasters and climate change while enjoying rich natural resources. He hoped exchanges and collaborations on university management and advanced technology would be extended in areas including disaster reduction and environmental science.
Subsequently, a signing ceremony was held between the two universities, in which Luan and Pue signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the two sides respectively, a cooperative relationship formally established.
During its stay in WYU, the PNG UNRE delegation visited the WYU Pacific Island Countries Research Institute where Zhang had a panel discussion with them.
Zhang gave an introduction of the Cooperation Center with an explanation of its management and the fruitful results achieved. He highlighted that in response to major national strategies for development, WYU had helped in enhancing Pacific island countries’ capacity in disaster prevention and mitigation through various exchanges and cooperation since the establishment of the Cooperation Center, such as holding short-term training programs on disaster risk reduction and emergency education, and admitting undergraduates from Pacific island countries to the bachelor’s program of these fields. He hoped that the signing of the MOU will promote the people-to-people communication and common development between both sides when they face risks and challenges of disasters together through the combination of each other's advantages, and practical cooperation in research and application of disaster prevention and mitigation technology, education and training, and cultural exchanges.
Pue agreed about WYU’s efforts in promoting cooperation with the Pacific island countries and the results achieved. As PNG UNRE provides programs related to disaster risk reduction, the cooperation between the two universities is gaining momentum. He hoped the cooperation between both sides would enhance the capacity of the Pacific island countries in disaster prevention and mitigation.
After the meeting, the delegation visited the Artificial Intelligence Learning Center. They appreciated the high-level research platform and scientific and technological innovation achievements of WYU.
Heads and personnel of the Graduate Department, the Department of Science and Technology, the International Affairs Office, the School of Economics and Management of WYU, and the WYU Pacific Island Countries Research Institute attended the reception activities.
