By Si Thu Tun
This year marks the 5th anniversary of the IMBA program of the Emerging Markets Institute (EMI)at Beijing Normal University. Some 50 IMBA students have recently visited the city of Hebi, Henan Province. In order to thoroughly understand the rural development, economic reform and agricultural innovation of Hebi, students were invited to local factories, farm bases and several historic landmarks.
Although the city of Hebi has always been developing in obscurity, impressive urbanization can be seen everywhere in the city. According to Liu Wenbiao, Vice Mayor of the city, Hebi used to be highly based on mining and coal, whereas now it is making every endeavor to boost tourism industry by restoring historic landmarks and cultural heritage to attract tourists. In recent years, agricultural sector of the city has been modernized with modern farming tools and machines including drones.
During the 3-day trip, IMBA students have enjoyed the city’s most famous places including Qi Shui poetry garden on the bank of Qihe River, and Liyang Ancient City. As part of the trip, they also visited Beidi Industrial Park, Zhonghe Agricultural Park, Hebi Jianye Green Industrial Base, Hebi Agricultural Silicon Valley Industrial Park, and Hebi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Nled Company.
On the second day of the trip, IMBA students, media representatives from CIPG and the city officials attended the lecture of Professor Hu Biliang, dean of the Emerging Markets Institute (EMI) at Beijing Normal University (BNU).
From the domestic perspective, Hu stressed that China has entered a new era of development and has a desire for opening up to the world. The ancient Silk Road was a successful model of opening up in history, based on which the modern “Belt and Road” Initiative aims at offering the countries along the Belt and Road chances to collaborate in achieving common development and mutual benefit. From the international perspective, without a shadow of doubt, after joining the WTO, China has been drastically integrated into the global trading system. Further opening up of China will then bring large-scale state-owned enterprises into the market, and Chinese commodity will surely continue to globalize in large scale.
“I think that the Belt and Road initiative is a good opportunity for my country. Bangladesh is an old and trustworthy friend of China. I hope to see more Chinese capital investing in Bangladesh”, said Mr. Jahangir Hossain, an assistant secretary general of Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatrodol (JCD), who has earlier been admitted by this year’s IMBA program.
According to Mr. Deng Mareng Akuei, who works for South Sudan Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs, “I chose this IMBA program because it will open more doors for me in the future. Having a Chinese certificate — since the world is moving towards opening up — will bring me more opportunities to work with Chinese companies. Now, I have a better understating of the Belt and Road initiative, which is pretty creative!”
“Peru has been actively participating in the Belt and Road initiative. So, for us it’s really important to bond with China. I think there are many industries that would be interested in our country; and Peru in return is also interested in Chinese industries. I think that would be a good link for us and a good opportunity to learn as well, since China is rapidly developing now”, said Jacqueline Garay from Peru.
This year, the IMBA program has admitted 53 students from 31 emerging markets countries from Asia, Africa, Oceania and South America.
China Report ASEAN 