On the afternoon of March 16, Fu Zhifeng, CUEB president, received Grigor Porozhanov, the Bulgarian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to China, Denitiza Cherneva, the Press Secretary, and Vesselin Blagoev, the vice president of the Management University of Varna(MUV)at Boxue Building.

Fu Zhifeng extended his warm welcome to Grigor Porozhanov and Vesselin Blagoev, and briefly introduced the CUEB’s characteristic and international approach to education. President Fu stressed that the friendship between China and Bulgaria started far back and rana long course. He hoped that the two sides could seize the opportunities for cooperation provided by China’s Belt and Road Initiative and that exchanges and practical cooperation couldbe enhanced between CUEB and the MUV along with other Bulgarian colleges and universities, in an effort to boost Sino-Bulgaria cooperation and communication in higher education.

Grigor Porozhanov thanked CUEB for its hospitality and spoke highly of its achievements in international cooperation in recent years. The ambassador pointed out that the Bulgarian government was committed to Sino-Bulgaria bilateral ties and looked forward to strategic cooperation with China on the Belt and Road Initiative and collaboration with China in economy, trade, finance and education. Porozhanov said that CUEB and the MUV hadmany disciplines in common and thus enjoyed huge potential of cooperation. He was also pleased with the success of academic and cultural exchanges between the students of the two universities. He hoped that starting from this event, the deepening cooperation between the two universities would in turn push forward cooperation between institutions of higher education from both countries and achieve win-win development.

In his introduction of the MUV, Vesselin Blagoev noted that the MUV was now among the top 300 international business schools in the world and looked forward to comprehensive cooperation and exchanges with CUEB going forward. This student exchange event conducted with the Overseas Chinese College of CUEB aimed at fostering students’ ability of cross-cultural communication and cooperation and making them citizens of the world. According to Blagoev, a consensus with the International Cooperation and Communication Office of CUEB and the School of International Education had been established on joint efforts in setting up the Confucius Institutes, multi-lateral talent training platforms and mechanism of academic exchanges and research collaboration. He hoped these steps would bring the two countries to the next level of bilateral cooperation in higher education and consolidate the long-standing friendship.