On March 13, Vice President Liu Chunhong met with Bogale Feleke Temesgen, State Minister of Industry, Ethiopia and Sileshi Lemma Bekele, Director General of Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute on the Yan’an Road campus. Officials from International Cooperation Office, Development & Liaison Office, International Cultural Exchange School and B&R International Cooperation Research Center for Textile Industry were also present at the meeting.
Liu first extended a warm welcome to the guests and then briefed the cooperation with universities in Kenya and Ethiopia. Since DHU joined the 20+20 Cooperation Plan for Chinese and African Institutions of Higher Education in 2010, it has cooperated with Moi University to establish the global first Confucius Institute featuring textile engineering and fashion design in Kenya, held Sino-Africa International Symposium on Textiles and Apparel for three consecutive years, and signed a MoU with Bahir Dar University of Ethiopia in 2016. DHU now expects to build partnerships with more universities and research institutes in Ethiopia in terms of student cultivation and academic research.
Bogale Feleke said that textile industry is the top priority in economic development of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia is China’s important partner in “B&R” cooperation for production capacity of textile industry. In recent years, famous Chinese textile enterprises such as SUMEC, Shangtex, Jiangsu Sunshine, and Zhejiang Antai Garments have made investments in Ethiopia. This visit to China is aimed at having exchanges with relevant sections of China’s textile industry, so as to better serve the investments by Chinese textile enterprises in Ethiopia. Bogale Feleke also expressed the hope that Donghua University will cooperate with more Ethiopian institutions to train more outstanding talents for the two-side cooperation in textile industry.
