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Professor Yongli Xie, Dean of the School of Highway at the Chang’an University in Xi’an, China, reported that there is good progress for the establishment of five transportation universities on the African continent. He said China would also explore the possibility of establishing a China-Africa civil aviation school in Africa and build infrastructure for aviation ground services. Professor Xie mentioned the progress made in Africa-China relations in the field of transport during his plenary session at the Southern African Transport Conference and Exhibition this week.
The Forum of China-Africa Cooperation was formed in October 2000, under the joint initiative of China and Africa. Members include China and 51 African states. Six Ministerial Conferences have been held every three years since 2000, at which several MoU’s have been signed, the most recent of which occurred in South Africa in December 2015.
Among others, the cooperation has led to the formation of the China-Africa Transport Strategy Research Institute (CATSRI) at Chang’an University. Professor Xie said 713 international students, many of them from African countries like Senegal and Congo, were enrolled at the institute. Xie explained that CATSRI will create opportunities for potential projects; enable research co-operation, post-graduate student exchange programmes and various academic conferences, forums and workshops.
Two Chinese students from the Chang’an University will also present papers to attendees of SATC 2017 on Thursday, 13 July 2017.
More transport related insights will be shared during day the remaining two days of the Conference.
SATC is supported by both the South African Department of Transport (NDoT) and the US-based Transportation Research Board (TRB). The conference will continue until Thursday, 13 July 2017.