In statements to Prensa Latina, Cuban Higher Education Minister Walter Baluja highlighted the results of his working visit to China, which took him first to the city of Shanghai and then to the northern province of Hebei.

As part of his agenda, Baluja participated in the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Wednesday, particularly in the debates on people-to-people exchanges.

Cuba and China seek more cooperation in the academic and scientific fields, and inaugurated together the International Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in Hebei.

The institution will have prestigious Cuban academics who have written important international publications on the subject and ‘who could find access to advanced technology there to materialize their research,’ the minister noted.

The idea is also to offer solutions from science, technology and information, which is generated in the academy, to the problems of our countries, thus supporting their development and welfare,’ he added.

About his stay in Hebei, he referred to the possibility of expanding the presence of Cuban university professors there ‘to teach careers and postgraduate courses requested by the Chinese side, because they know the quality of our training programs.’

In addition, the minister expressed his confidence about a good attendance by the Chinese higher education community to the University 2024 Congress, to be held in February in Havana.

He pointed out that ‘we will probably hold the first meeting of rectors between the two countries’ in the near future.

People-to-people exchanges, scientific-technological cooperation, innovation, curricula, training and scholarships are at the center of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has expanded in the last decade to cover different fields of collaboration.

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