High-level Chinese delegation visits TAU Campus

Fourteen leading businessmen from the Chinese city of Handan visited TAU as part of a delegation led by Mr. Hui Jan, Mayor of the Handan Municipal People’s Government. The delegation met with Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo; Prof. Joseph Klafter, TAU President; and Amos Elad, TAU Vice President for Development and Public Affairs.

Among the participants were Chinese businessman and philanthropist Mr. Zhao Hanging, Chairman of Handan Hanqing International Group and Chairman of Hak Handan Agricultural Machinery Industrial Park Co. Ltd; and Mr. Yan Deying, Director of CCP Committee of Handan Economic Development Zone. The delegation was accompanied by Mr. Jan Hak, who facilitated the meeting and is founder, owner and CEO of QuaTerNes, and partner, shareholder, board member and Director of HakNandan.

The delegation explored potential areas of cooperation between Tel Aviv University and concerns in Handanin food security, economics and exact sciences, among other fields. Participants met with Prof. Danny Chamovitz, Director of TAU’s Manna Center for Plant Biosciences, and Prof. Leo Leiderman of TAU’s Eitan Berglas School of Economics and Chief Economic Advisor, Bank Hapoalim, Israel.

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Pictured: The Chinese delegation and their TAU hosts

Handan, a city with a population of over 10 million inhabitants, is located at the southern tip of Hebel Province and is at the center of central China’s economic zone. With a solid industrial economic base and favorable conditions for comprehensive agricultural production, Handan is known as the capital of steel and coal production and as the “granary of the North.”

The visit builds on Tel Aviv University’s rapidly growing ties with China. These include an agreement with Nanjing University to train top Chinese business executives at TAU’s LAHAV Executive Education Unit and an agreement with Tsinghua University in China. Last year 200 students from China studied at TAU in various programs.

TAU President Joseph Klafter said, “For some time now, China has no longer been the future. China is the present. In light of the strategic decision by the University to strengthen its international presence in East Asia, China is obviously a preferred target.”