From October 6 to 12, 2017, Prof. Zhou Guping, the vice Chairman of Development Committee of Zhejiang University, Director of Research Center for Regional Coordinated Development and Dean of Chinese Academy of Western Development, led a delegation to visit cooperative institutions and universities in Hungary, Czech and Romania, accompanied by Yuan Qing, Vice Dean of Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Dong Xuebing, Vice Director of Research Center for Regional Coordinated Development and Executive Vice Dean of Chinese Academy of Western Development, in order to promote in-depth cooperation in humanities and social sciences and Belt and Road Initiative studies.

Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

The delegationwas warmly welcomed by Imre Hamar, Vice President of Foreign Affairs in the visit to Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), and both of them introduced their discipline construction and scientific researches in humanities and social sciences. Prof. Zhou expressed the desire of Zhejiang University (ZJU) to carry out cooperation in mutual studies of Chinese Belt and Road Initiative Development Strategy and Hungarian national development strategy with ELTE. Vice President Hamar agreed that the Belt and Road Initiative is becoming more and more popular, and has played a positive role in promoting win-win cooperation between China and countries along the Silk Road. In 2017, ELTE set up the first overseas research center for Belt and Road Initiative and is eager to conduct cooperative projects in the field of Belt and Road Initiative with ZJU.

The delegation had discussions on exchanges of teachers and students, training of Chinese teachers, nationality studies, and “Role of Chinese and Hungarian Youth in Belt and Road Initiative Development Strategy”, reaching a consensus on further cooperation. They also visited Library of ELTE and Confucius Institute.

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

The delegation had a congenial conversation with János Józsa, President of Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and Krisztina László, Vice President of Foreign Affairs in the visit to BME. Located in the strategic area of Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary is an important country along the Silk Road. Prof. Zhou insisted that researching and teaching cooperation projects will play a crucial role in enhancing mutual understanding between teachers and students of ZJU and BME and promoting common development of education and culture in China and Hungary. President Józsa expressed the same desire for cooperation. In particular, they had in-depth discussions on cooperation projects in lifelong education.

Czech Technical University in Prague

The delegation had a congenial conversation with Miroslav Vlček, Vice President of Foreign Affairs of Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU), and visited its National Library of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, etc. Miroslav Vlček said they should actively expand teaching and researching cooperation in management and economy, apart from cooperation in traditional engineering fields. The two also discussed the possibility of cooperation in regional economic researches, smart city construction and other areas.

Charles University in Prague

The delegation was warmly received by Jan Škrha, Vice President of Foreign Affairs of Charles University in Prague in the visit to Charles University. Prof. Zhou highlighted a series of achievements of ZJU through its international development strategy, and hoped that ZJU and Charles University could conduct cooperation in student exchanges, scholar visits and interdisciplinary researches. In particular, relying on their advantages of multi-disciplines and talents, Prof. Zhou wished to expand strategic cooperation in Belt and Road Initiative. Vice President Škrha suggested to initially carry out student short-term exchanges and research projects in social sciences, based on Research Center for Regional Coordinated Development and Chinese Academy of Western Development of ZJU and Center for Chinese Studies, Charles University. They had a detailed discussion on summer curriculum projects and research cooperation in social sciences.

University of Bucharest, Romania

The delegation had a congenial conversation with Mircea Dumitru, President of University of Bucharest, and Sorin Costreie, Vice President of Foreign Affairs in the visit to University of Bucharest. They discussed cooperation in philosophy, demography, regional economics and linguistic cognitive science. Later, on behalf of Research Center for Regional Coordinated Development and Chinese Academy of Western Development of ZJU, Prof. Zhou and President Dumitru signed a memorandum of cooperation. They hoped to promote effective docking researches of Romanian national development strategy and Chinese Belt and Road Initiative Development Strategy through the co-establishment of think tanks, exchanges among teachers and students and joint researches, providing intellectual security and support for win-win development of the two countries.

During the visit to Hungary, Czech and Romania, the delegation also made a series of discussions with overseas Chinese businessmen and chambers of commerce, to learn about living and working conditions of overseas businessmen, the trade development between China and Central and Eastern Europe, the future trend of industrial cooperation, and opportunities and challenges of deep cooperation in economy, trade, education, science and culture brought by Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. Based on this first-hand information, they hoped to promote the implementation of major projects in Belt and Road Initiative and improve mutual cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries. Hungarian News, United News and other local newspapers has made a detailed report on their visit.

During the talks, the delegation also made discussions and exchanges on a number of practical problems with overseas Chinese businessmen, such as the transformation of traditional trade to cross-border e-business, industrial cooperation, and traditional Chinese language and cultural education of their second generation and local people. They will continue to follow these relevant issues according to survey results.