On September 12, 2025, the Eighth Forum on Dialogue between the Civilizations of China and Latin America, themed “Mutual Learning of Civilizations for Common Development and Shared Future”, was held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Fang Wei (Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province), Xie Gang (Deputy Director of China International Communications Group), Tang Lingyun (Deputy Director of Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China), Fan Jianxin (Party Secretary of Institute of Latin American Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), and Anyin Choo (Ambassador of Guyana to China) attended the opening ceremony, and gave their speeches. Alberto Blanco Silva (Ambassador of Cuban to China) and several representatives from Consulate Generals of Latin American and Caribbean countries in Shanghai were also present in the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was chaired by Sun Yi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Province. Ren Nan, Vice President of JUST, attended the forum on behalf of JUST, and delivered a keynote speech at the sub-forum of “China (Jiangsu)-Latin America University Consortium”.

As one of the founding members of “China (Jiangsu)-Latin America University Consortium”, Vice President Ren Nan stated that JUST is rooted in its three distinctive advantages of “naval architecture, marine science, and sericulture”, and fully integrates itself into the national strategies of “building a maritime power” and “rural revitalization”. JUST’s Sericulture Research Institute houses the world’s largest germplasm resource bank for silkworms and mulberries. In recent years, it has achieved remarkable results in international cooperation on sericulture and mulberry science and technology with Latin American countries and particularly Cuba. We will take the establishment of “China-Latin America University Consortium” as an opportunity to further deepen China-Cuba cooperation in sericulture technology, promote the sharing of educational resources, and make greater contributions to consolidating and developing China-Cuba friendship and advancing the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

During the forum, Vice President Ren Nan also had cordial discussions with Alberto Blanco Silva (Ambassador of Cuban to China) and Mileidy (Consul General of Cuba in Shanghai), carrying out in-depth exchanges on strengthening China-Cuban cooperation in sericulture technology and building a joint “Belt and Road” laboratory.