Last week, the Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen visited Shanghai and Nanjing, Wuxi and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. From 17th to 20th May the Danish Ambassador to China Friis Arne Petersen visited Shanghai and Jiangsu Province to meet government officials, business leaders and university students and professors.
During his stay the Ambassador met with Xu Ming, Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, to discuss the cooperation between Denmark and Jiangsu Provinse. He also met with Ji Jianye, Mayor of Nanjing, Yan Li, Mayor of Suzhou, and Mao Xiaoping, Mayor of Wuxi.
The Ambassador met representatives from some of the many Danish businesses present in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, which is one of the wealthiest and most rapidly developing provinces in China.
“Jiangsu is a unique and dynamic province with a big focus on environment friendly growth, which we in Denmark are also strong believers in. Reliance on innovation, science and hi-tech is a characteristic of the development in Jiangsu, and I see great potential for future cooperation,” says Friis Arne Petersen.
The Ambassador adds that he is looking forward to revisiting Jiangsu Province and Shanghai travelling by the new high speed train from Beijing to Shanghai that will start operating in July.
The Ambassador visited both Fudan University in Shanghai and Nanjing University to engage in an open dialogue on foreign policy with students and professors.
“I really enjoyed meeting the students and professors of both Fudan and Nanjing University. It was refreshing and stimulating to meet the Chinese students and the visit leaves me with an impression of a qualified student body interested in hearing and discussing new views on foreign policy,” says Friis Arne Petersen.
Friis Arne Petersen visits The Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre
Both Chinese universities have comprehensive cooperation with Danish universities.
During his visit in Nanjing the Ambassador visited The Memorial Hall of the Nanjing 1937 Massacre where amongst other things he visited the small exhibition displaying the deeds of the Dane Bernhard Arp Sindberg, who helped save 6000 thousand Chinese lives during the Nanjing Massacre.
The trip to Jiangsu and Shanghai is one out of many visits to selected provinces made by the Ambassador in 2011. These visits aim at further improve ties with local leaders, facilitating meetings and debates with scholars and students, promoting Danish business interests and paying visits to civil society organisations.
