On the morning of November 22, the 2025 China-Africa International Textile and Apparel Forum & China-Africa Cultural Exchange Forum was held at the Information Center of our university. The forum, convened both online and offline, was themed “AI-Enabled Sustainable Development”. Attendees at the opening ceremony included Wang Zhidong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of our university, and Liu Guangyong, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.
(Wang Yedong delivers a speech at the forum)
At the opening ceremony, Wang Zhidong extended a warm welcome to all domestic and international guests in attendance. She stated that under the framework of the Ministry of Education’s ‘China-Africa Universities 20+20 Cooperation Plan,’ Donghua University has actively responded to the call for opening up education in the new era and expanded its global cooperation network. She emphasized that this forum serves as an important bridge for promoting the textile and apparel industries and cultural exchanges between China and Africa, and expressed her hope that Chinese and African partners would engage in in-depth discussions, pool collective wisdom, and jointly chart a blueprint for a brighter future.
Liu Guangyong noted in his address that China and Africa have always been good friends, partners, and brothers sharing a common destiny. He highlighted that Donghua University, as a leading institution in China’s textile field, has long been actively engaged in China-Africa cooperation. He further stated that the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government will continue to support Donghua University and other institutions in strengthening cooperation and exchanges with Africa, jointly exploring new pathways for sustainable development across various fields, and contributing Chinese wisdom and Shanghai’s strength to building a new era of all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future.
Following the opening ceremony, Qiu Yiping, Global Executive Director of SAMPE, Professor Omar Cherkaoui from the Moroccan Institute of Textile and Apparel Industry, Professor Yuan Dayong from Beijing Foreign Studies University, Professor Yan Xiaofeng from Tianjin University, and Professor Jia Lili from the University of Cambridge delivered keynote speeches sequentially via online and offline formats. Their presentations covered a wide range of topics, including textile science, neuroscience, international cooperation, cultural philosophy, and artificial intelligence.
That afternoon, the forum organized three parallel sessions titled ‘A Community with a Shared Future for Mankind: Theory and Practice,’‘Green and Intelligent New Textile Materials,’ and ‘Resilience and Synergy: Co-building a Sustainable China-Africa Future under the Belt and Road Initiative.’ Over a hundred scholars from various fields gathered at our university for intensive discussions and fruitful exchanges, creating a vibrant and highly engaged academic atmosphere on site.
It is reported that Donghua University has long been committed to China-Africa cooperation, having admitted African students since the 1950s. In 2011, the university established a partnership with Moi University in Kenya under the ‘China-Africa 20+20 Universities Initiative.’ In 2015, it founded a Confucius Institute and hosted the inaugural China-Africa International Textiles and Apparel Forum, which has since been held eleven times. Moving forward, our university will continue to focus on building diversified platforms with Africa in the fields of textiles and apparel as well as humanities and social sciences. We will actively contribute Donghua's strength to jointly build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
This conference is jointly hosted by Donghua University and Moi University, and organized by the College of Textiles, School of Marxism, College of Humanities, and Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology at Donghua University. It is co-organized by the SAMPE China Mainland Chapter, Donghua University's Belt and Road Research Center, and the China-Africa University Alliance Exchange Mechanism.
