On November 19th, Yang Bin, Vice President of Xiamen University, at the invitation of Matt Hebb, Vice President of Dalhousie University in charge of international affairs, held a video conference between XMU and UDal. Yang Qin, Officer of Intergovernmental Affairs of Nova Scotia government, Yu Hongbo, Executive Director of Office of Overseas Campus Affairs and Deputy Director of Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of XMU, as well as the staff of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of both universities, were also present.

Hebb greeted Yang Bin warmly and highly complemented the cooperation relationship between Dalhousie University and Xiamen University. He said, as there had been a solid foundation of cooperation between two universities, the future prospect of cooperation was promising. Since he assumed office, he had put the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between two universities, which would create even wider and deeper cooperation and exchange, on the agenda.

Yang said, during the long-time close partnership since the 1980s, Dalhousie University had cultivated many famous professors and management talents for Xiamen University and China. Currently, the accomplishments of cooperation between two universities in the field of oceanographic research were impressive. Thus, Yang hoped that the two universities could further deepen cooperation and exploit the advantages of each other to stimulate the interaction of different fields and disciplines. In addition, Yang briefed relevant information of Xiamen University Malaysia and proposed using its resources to energize future cooperation.

Yang emphasized, against the backdrop of the 14th Five-year Plan of China and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, and on the occasion of its centenary, the university would continue to use its international advantages to realize high-level opening up and high-quality development through cooperation with overseas universities. He also hoped that if epidemic control policy allowed, he could invite Vice President Hebb to attend the centenary celebration of Xiamen University.

After more discussions on future collaborations, in the end of the meeting, both parties decided to set the renewal of the cooperation agreement at the ceremony of Nova Scotia-Fujian Sister-Province establishment.

Fujian Province is one of the three strategic cooperation provinces of Nova Scotia. Having established friendly province relationship already, the two provinces will establish sister-province relationship soon.

Translation by Lin Tengju and Chen Yan