On the afternoon of May 21st, Ed Fast, Canadian Minister of International Trade and Minister of the Asia-Pacific Gateway, visits Nanjing University of Finance and Economics and gives a speech to NUFE students. Chancellor Chen Zhanglong and President Liu Zhibiao meet Minister Ed Fast and the delegation. They exchange opinions about the cooperation between NUFE and Canada.
Chancellor Chen Zhanglong meets Minister Ed Fast in the V.I.P Room of the administrative building on Xianlin Campus. Chancellor Chen expresses sincere welcome to Minister Ed Fast, and explicates current cooperation between NUFE and Canadian universities. Minister Ed Fast thanks for the warm reception of NUFE and welcomes more Chinese students and teachers to study in Canada.
Accompanied by Vice-President Wang Kaitian and Vice President Qiu Weifen, Minister Ed Fast and the delegation visit the laboratories of Food Science and Engineering School. Liu Qin, Vice-Dean of the school, introduces the development and research of related subjects, as well as the international cooperation of the school.
Then Minister Ed Fast gives a speech on “Establishing an Education Partnership between Canada and China” in the auditorium of the library. Before the speech, President Liu Zhibiao addresses the prospect of NUFE-Canadian cooperation, indicating that NUFE will cherish the cooperation opportunity with Canadian universities and play a more important role in Sino-Canadian trade and economic relations. Minister Ed Fast states that Canada values the cooperation with China in the field of trade and education. He comments that Canada is one of the best choices for Chinese students for further study because of their adequate international education system. He also gives high remark on the cooperation between NUFE and Canadian universities. During the speech, Minister Ed Fast also interacts with the audience, discussing the relationship between economic development and environmental protection, and the trade problems between the two countries.
After the speech, Minister Ed Fast and President Liu Zhibiao are interviewed by the correspondents from Xinhua News Agency, Xinhua Daily, Social Sciences of China, Jiangsu TV, and Jiangsu Economic Daily.
In the previous decade, NUFE actively promotes internationalization and establishes good cooperative relations with renowned universities and organizations in Canada. Canadian governor and former president of University of Waterloo, Mr. David Johnston, has visited NUFE four times. NUFE owns "Canadian Research Center", "Grain Ecological Research Center of China and Canada" and some other academic institutes. Meanwhile, NUFE undertakes various student exchange programs with University of Waterloo, University of Manitoba and other Canadian universities. More than 150 NUFE students have gone to University of Waterloo for further study and approximately 100 teachers have been trained in McGill University and McMaster University.
