On the morning of June 13th, the Opening Ceremony of the Turkish Consulate General in Chengdu was held at the Shangri-La Hotel Chengdu. The opening ceremony was attended by Wu Xi, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yang Xingping, vice governor of Sichuan Province, Musa, ambassador of Turkey to China, Tokman, consul general of Turkey in Chengdu, and representatives of various sectors. Deputy Director Li Shan and Ms. Cen Yingji from the Department of International Exchanges & Cooperation of Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT) were also invited.
Group Photo of Opening Ceremony Guests
The consular area of the Turkish Consulate General in Chengdu covers Sichuan Province, Chongqing, Guizhou Province and Yunnan Province. It is Turkey's third consulate in the Chinese mainland. In recent years, Sichuan and Turkey have continued to deepen and expand exchanges and cooperation in various areas, and the two sides have established one pair of sister cities (Suining and Kirklareli) and three pairs of friendly cooperation relationships (between Chengdu and Beyoglu & Izmir, and between Shuangliu District, Chengdu and Gaziemir District, Izmir City) at various levels.
Sichuan and Turkey have been side by side in responding to disasters. After the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12th occurred, the Turkish government immediately donated more than USD 2 million to Sichuan. Earlier this year, upon learning about the strong earthquake in Turkey, Sichuan organized an emergency team and raised emergency supplies within a short time and from multiple channels to assist Turkey in overcoming difficulties. The Mega Earthquake Induced Geo-disasters Research Team of the State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection of CDUT predicted earthquake-induced landslides in Turkey using an earthquake-induced landslide prediction model developed previously. The model uses a global co-seismic landslide database and artificial intelligence algorithms to rapidly predict the spatial distribution probabilities of landslides induced by strong earthquakes.
The establishment of the Turkish Consulate General in Chengdu will promote Sichuan to better integrate into the Belt and Road Initiative and drive cooperation between Sichuan and Turkey in areas such as investment, trade and people-to-people exchanges. CDUT will seize new opportunities to strive to create a new situation of cooperation with relevant universities in Turkey.
Group Photo of Personnel from Department of International Exchanges & Cooperation CDUT
