Mr. LUO Zhijun, Secretary of CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Director of Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, visited Confucius Institute for Business at The State University of New York, the first Confucius Institute for Business in Americas, on July 22, 2011, and participated in a symposium in his honor held in SUNY Levin Institute in the company of Peng Keyu, Ambassador of Consulate General of  The People's Republic of China in New York. Those in companion with Mr. LUO Zhijun include: Mr. Xu Nanping, Assistant Governor of Jiangsu (Vice Governor Level); Mr. Mao Weiming, Director General, Jiangsu Provincial Reform and Development Commission; Mr. Shen Jian, Director General, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education; Mr. Zhu Min, Director General, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce; Mr. Fei Shaoyun, Director General, Jiangsu Provincial Foreign Affairs Office; Mr. Zheng Zeguang, Vice Mayor of Nanjing Municipal People's Government.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher served as host of the event and welcomed Secretary LUO's visit. The symposium was moderated by Thomas Moebus, Director of Confucius Institute for Business and Vice President of SUNY Levin Institute. Secretary LUO delivered a speech on "Building Bridges Between China and the US Through Higher Education and Business Relationships".

The dignitary participants include: New York State Senators Liz Krueger and Toby Ann Stavisky; Ms. Julina Guo representative of US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; Ms. Ann Li, VP, NYC Economic Development Corporation; Mr. John Murad and his wife, SUNY trustees; W. Hubert Keen,President of SUNY Farmingdale; David Heath, President of SUNU College of Optometry; Calvin O. Butts, President of SUNY Old Westbury; Dr. James Liszka, Provost of SUNY Plattsburgh; Dr. Eva Cramer, Vice President of SUNY Downstate Medical, Mr. Allan Goodman, President, Institute for International Education; Mr. Ellis Rubinstein, President of the New York Academy of Sciences, and other business and academic leaders. Around 200 people attended the symposium.

This Chinese partner of Confucius Institute for Business, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics(NUFE) sent its delegation of four headed by Dr. Xu Chengming Vice President of Foreign Affairs to participate in the symposium. NUFE delegation and Delegation from Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education had a discussion with CIB directors on current issues and potential cooperation.

Prior to the symposium, a short book donation ceremony was performed at the Confucius Institute Library. On behalf of CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, Secretary LUO donated "Commentatory Biographies of Chinese Thinkers" (200 volumes), and Jiangnan Water Towns in China (8 volumes) to Confucius Institute for Business.

During the symposium, Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and Director General Shen Jian signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the State University of New York and Jiangsu High Education Department on the shadow training of vice presidents of Jiangsu Universities to SUNY campuses.

Nancy Zimpher and Shen Jian sign an memorandum

After the signing ceremony of MOU, Secretary LUO Zhijun presented a gifts to Thomas Moebus, Director of CIB and Vice President of SUNY Levin Institute for the contributions of American partner made to establish the Confucius Institue for Busienss.

The symposium closed with Chancellor Nancy Zimpher's thanksgiving to Ambassador Peng Keyu for his support of SUNY-China 150 program in 2008, and his contribution to the development of Confucius Institutes in America. Director General Shen Jian, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, presented a gift to Ambassador Peng for his outstanding contribution as well. (web-link)

Nancy Zimpher presents a gift to Ambassador Peng Keyu

A networking reception presented the Chinese cultural arts of calligraphy, water color painting, and gugin performance, which were all well received by the attendees. Consul Wang Ying provided the water color demonstration, and donated his paintings to the Confucius Institute for Business.

Directors of seven Confucius institutes in New York had been invited and attended the symposium, including directors of Confucius Institutes at SUNY campuses at Buffalo, Binghamton, Stony Brook, Optometry, Alfred College, in addition to the Confucius Institutes at Pace University and China Institute. Directors of the six SUNY-related Confucius Institutes held a first organizational meeting on future collaboration.

Between CI directors meeting and formal symposium, Confucius Institute for Business at SUNY held a panel discussion to release its training programs. The panel discussion was moderated by Thomaas Moebus, Director of CIB. Panelists include Dr.Yongqiang Liu, Chinese Director of CIB, Dr. Maryalice Mazzara, Director of Academic Affairs, Jean Montalvan, Market Research Group Member, Ms. Ann Li, VP, NYC Economic Development Corporation, and Ms. Janet Carmosky, faculty member of Confucius Institute for Business. The panels introduced the programs to be offered and provided an example of how Confucius Institute for Business programs will integrate the study of Chinese language, culture, and business. The program was well received by the audience of 60 potential students for the CI Business.

In the process of preparing the symposium to welcome the visit of Secretary LUO, the team of Confucius Institute for Business at the State University of New York, under the leadership of Thomas Moebus, have finished all pre-tasks for launching CIB courses and programs. The CI Business Headquarters and Library were completed renovated and completed, and were in beautiful display for the visit of Party Secretary Luo and the many dignitaries. The CI Business team finished marketing survey report, website design, logo design, proposal on CIB curriculum systems, and the design of registration and application system. In order to support CIB, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics donated 260 T-shirts with CIB and its logo printed for initiating the market, and 3000 volumes of books on Chinese culture, language, economics and management for teaching and research.

At the conclusion of the events, many people remained for networking discussions--and described the events as "elegant", "grand", and "exquisite".