HUST has welcomed nine African ambassador and diplomats to visit our campus from July 22 to 23, who are from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Djibouti, Sudan, Uganda, and Eritrea embassies in Beijing. During their stay in Wuhan, they met with the university senior leader, held a talk with international students, paid a visit to the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, and they also attended the China-Africa Innovation Forum on African Character Recognition Technology.

On the afternoon of July 22, Vice President Prof. Chen Jianguo had a meeting with the African delegation. On behalf of HUST, Chen extended a warm welcome to the African delegation and introduced the outcomes of cooperation between HUST and its African counterparts in education, science, and technology. He expressed his hope that HUST could take the delegation’s visit as an opportunity to enhance all-round and pragmatic cooperation with its African partners in pursuit of shared scientific and technological achievements and development opportunities. Mr. Teshome Toga Chanaka, Ethiopian Ambassador to China and the head of the delegation, said that HUST has enjoyed a good academic reputation and excellent innovation spirit which led to remarkable achievements, especially in frontier science and technology. He also mentioned that the invited visit has provided a good opportunity for himself and his colleagues from the Horn of Africa to establish closer ties with HUST and he highly anticipated that concerted efforts would be made to elevate China-Africa innovative cooperation to a higher level.

The delegation paid a brief visit to the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics where the Deputy Director Prof. Lu Peixiang and three faculty members introduced the landmark research achievements the laboratory has made in terms of global frontier academic research, international exchanges and cooperation, as well as their endeavors to serve major national strategies and local economic development.

At the seminar with international students, 11 African students from different schools and departments shared their thoughts and feelings about studying at HUST.Vice President Chen Jianguo, Dr. Chen Jie, Director of the Office of International Affairs, Prof. Zhou Liping, Dean of the School of International Education, and representatives from relevant departments attended the seminar.

“As you may know, the WeChat founder Mr. Allen Zhang, whom we call "HUSTers Big Brother," is one of the best examples that HUST is home for visionary stars.” said Mr. Wondimu Gebre, an Ethiopian PhD student. Inspired and guided by his supervisor Prof. Bai Xiang, he started to focus on a neglected research area, i.e., African language and character recognition, and became a pioneer in exploring the character recognition technology of the official language of Ethiopia—Amharic. He said, “I believe that more and more African students will study in China, realizing their potential and dreams.”

Ms. Rayan, a Sudanese student of the First Clinical School, recalled the situation during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. The medical student was impressed by the courage and strength of the Chinese people, the decisiveness and sound governance of the Chinese governments, and the selfless dedication of the Chinese medical workers, which all strengthened her belief to pursue a career to cure diseases and save people’s lives.

“There is a common saying in my country: ‘Every Eritrean abroad is the Ambassador of his/her nation’, so I grew up considering myself the Ambassador of my nation, but now that list contains one other nation, and that is the Peoples Republic of China.” excitedly said Li Meiyue, an Eritrean student of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Chen Jianguo pointed out that talent cultivation is a central part to our university’s mission. Many outstanding African students such as Wondimu Gebre have served as a bridge to promote China-Africa friendship by applying their knowledge to facilitate China-Africa exchanges and mutual learning. HUST will continue to reinforce the educational exchanges and cooperation with its African counterparts and strive to cultivate more African talents for the development of the continent. Such efforts will help achieve higher-level educational interconnectivity and enable African youth to fulfill their aspirations for a better life.

In his speech, Ambassador Teshome Toga Chanaka encouraged the African students to play their due part in enhancing people-to-people exchange between China and Africa, in addition to striving excellence in their academic and professional pursuit.

The Ambassador also remarked that African students should reflect upon the great accomplishments China has achieved over the past 40 years thanks to its reform and opening-up policy, and African countries should learn from “China experience” to provide valuable thinking and driving force for their own reform and development.

On July 23, the delegation attended the China-Africa Innovation Forum on African Character Recognition Technology. African delegates had a fruitful discussion with Chinese and overseas scholars and experts from universities and research institutions, as well as the representatives from the industry, focusing on the research-industry -application of African character recognition technology.

The African ambassador and diplomatic official’s visit to HUST is a major step by HUST to implement the principles of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, cement the China-Africa cooperation to jointly build the “Road and Belt”, and promote the building of a closer China-Africa community with a shared future. HUST will endeavor to enable the African countries to understand the noteworthy achievements it has secured in talent cultivation, scientific research, social services, cultural heritage, and international cooperation in a profound and comprehensive manner, starting a new chapter of all-round, in-depth, friendly, and practical cooperation with the African counterparts.

Source: School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation

Edited by: Jiang Jing