Mr. Liu Baoli, Director General of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education of China
Ms. Keya Sengupta, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, India
Mr.Yu Yifa, Vice-President of Ocean University of China
Members of the Executive Postgraduate Programme, and Friends

I am highly thankful to the organizers for inviting me to the closing ceremony of Sino-Indian Postgraduate Programme at Ocean University of China. It is an honour to be amongst you all.

The exchange of knowledge between India and China dates back to millennia. Communication through Buddhism, the old Silk Route, Xuan Zhang’s association with the Nalanda University in old Pataliputra are only testimonies of such a tradition. Teachings of Confucius and Sakyamuni have travelled across geographical barriers to reach each other’s ancient civilizations. The great Buddhist scholar Kumarajiva had initiated the efforts to collect and translate important Buddhist texts at Chang’an, present Xian. Indian astrologer Aryabhatta’s astronomical science were translated into Chinese. In recent times, Rabindranath Tagore’s intellect and creations have made astounding impact on the Chinese intellectual discourse and scholarship in the last 100 years.

In the last 30 years or so, both India and China have made remarkable economic progress. Today, both are nations of youths, with hopes, with dreams and with aspirations. In this context, it is essential that educators, scholars, scientists and managers of both countries communicate with each other, understand each other and share each other’s experiences.

In the new millennium, both India and China have been interacting and cooperating on issues of mutual interest, both bilaterally and in regional and international fora such as the BRICS, the G-20, the SCO and the United Nations. As emerging economies, they have been engaged in mutual cooperation to secure a brighter future for their people. And, therefore, the requirement of the hour is to share knowledge, expertise, skill and management experiences between successful businesses. As today’s managers, it is imperative to have cross cultural knowledge to conduct businesses in a highly integrated world.

China has become the second largest economy of the world and hopes to match that of the US in the next decade or two. China’s economic success is a huge opportunity for business houses in India and it is a challenge for a modern manager to understand, apply and succeed in building win-win synergies with Chinese business establishments.

I am happy that the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, one of the flagship management institutes of India has collaborated with Ocean University of China to provide their executives the much needed cross cultural management experiences. I hope, this engagement will serve as a model for other educational institutions in India and China to adopt new collaborations for exchanges in the field of education.

I wish all of you a very happy New Year and great success in life.