On March 2nd, Monsieur Jean-Maurice Ripert, the French Ambassador to China, visited Tsinghua University. Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University, received Ambassador Ripert at Gongziting, and communicated with him about further deepening Sino-French cooperation in research and education, in different fields.

President Qiu extended his welcome to Monsieur Ripert during the talk. He noted that Tsinghua regards the promotion of people-to-people exchanges and technological cooperation as an important strategy for the university’s development and hopes to continue strengthening the cooperation between Tsinghua and French universities and research institutes.

President Qiu noted that the two most important characteristics of the 21st century are innovation and globalization. Tsinghua will further upgrade its innovative capabilities and attract more internationally renowned experts and scholars in the future. Tsinghua will also continue to promote relevant developments to make it more international. In 2016, Tsinghua launched its Global Strategy, and Tsinghua will attach more importance to cooperation with first-class universities and research institutes worldwide, not only contributing to development in China, but also training talents for the world and addressing problems facing the whole world. He also introduced to Ambassador Ripert the recent developments of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) Institute, the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub, the Asian Universities Alliance, and the Schwarzman College.

Monsieur Ripert briefly introduced the relevant results of research and innovation in France. He noted that innovation and globalization are also focuses of attention of the French government, and he will support the cooperation between France and China in the fields of research, people-to-people exchanges, and joint degree programs, among others