From April 13 to 14, HNU President Luo Qingming, also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), met with the distinguished guests attending the League of Tropical Universities (LTU) 2025 Summit respectively. The meetings, held at HNU International Academic Exchange Center, included high-level representatives such as Datuk Ahmad Parveez, Director-General of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB); Shahbaz Khan, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia; Shi Zhongjun, Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC); Mihoko Kumamoto, Director of the Division for Prosperity at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); Mohamed Ibrahim bin Abdul Mutalib, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP); Ange Antoine Abena, President of Denis Sassou

Nguesso University in Congo (Brazzaville); and Paul Mapfumo, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).

Datuk Ahmad Parveez highlighted the pressing challenges facing Malaysia’s palm oil industry, including labor shortages and low harvesting efficiency. He emphasized that technological innovation is key to upgrading the sector and hailed HNU’s achievements in smart agricultural equipment and artificial intelligence (AI). He anticipated pragmatic cooperation to promote knowledge transfer and mutual industrial development.

Luo responded that HNU has built advanced research platforms and specialized teams, with increasing investment in scientific equipment in recent years. He looked forward to deepening educational and technological exchanges and advancing multi-level innovation collaboration across the tropical crop value chain.

Luo Qingming meeting with Datuk Ahmad Parveez (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Shahbaz Khan expressed hope that HNU will leverage its geographic advantages to deepen collaboration with UNESCO in cultural heritage preservation and sustainable development in the tropical regions, while expanding education and research exchanges across East Asia and promoting new models of cooperation.

Luo noted HNU’s achievements in talent nurturing and faculty development and expressed interest in working under the UNESCO framework to broaden cooperation with tropical countries and enhance HNU’s global impact, thus contributing more to the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) Initiative and global sustainable development goals.

Luo Qingming meeting with Shahbaz Khan (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Shi Zhongjun emphasized LTU’s vast prospects, noting that it has connection with numerous tropical universities and can facilitate the opening-up and development of the Hainan FTP. He pledged that the China-ASEAN Center will help promote the LTU, encourage more ASEAN universities to join, and facilitate Hainan-ASEAN research collaborations, particularly in tropical agriculture, to strengthen ties between HNU and ASEAN universities and research institutions.

Luo noted that HNU’s existing partnerships with ASEAN countries have already achieved significant fruits. With independent customs operation, the landmark policy   of Hainan FTP, to be implemented in 2025, he anticipated deeper cooperation with ASEAN partners to expand faculty and student exchanges and joint research. He hoped that the strengths of educational resources of various parties can be fully tapped to advance collaboration in talent nurturing, research innovation, and industry-university-research (IUR) integration for win-win outcomes.

Luo Qingming meeting with Shi Zhongjun (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Mihoko Kumamoto introduced the Prosperity Division at UNITAR and praised HNU’s educational model. Affirming UNITAR’s support, particularly through the Prosperity Division’s focus on empowering young leaders, Kumamoto noted that the signing of the cooperation agreement can provide HNU with international training resources, launch joint talent development initiatives, and help students cultivate global competence, thereby driving the sustained innovation of HNU’s educational model.

Luo noted a solid foundation is already in place for deeper collaboration and proposed jointly building a full-cycle training mechanism on the basis of HNU’s current international education programs. The mechanism should involve project development and certification, with the goal of co-creating a globally influential UNITAR youth training platform. Besides, he anticipated cooperation on talent development for Hainan’s culture and tourism industries through joint courses, internship bases, and academic exchanges, to advance the innovative development and internationalization of Hainan’s cultural and tourism industries.

Luo Qingming and Kumamoto signed the cooperation agreement on behalf of HNU and UNITAR after the talks.

Luo Qingming meeting with Mihoko Kumamoto (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Luo Qingming and Mihoko Kumamoto signing the cooperation agreement (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Mohamed Ibrahim bin Abdul Mutalib introduced UTP’s recent development and reaffirmed his long-standing support for HNU as a member of its International Advisory Board (IAB). He emphasized the solid basis for collaboration and hoped to deepen joint research in mechanical engineering, AI, and marine science, while exploring mechanisms for mutual credit recognition and interdisciplinary talent development.

Luo welcomed the proposal and noted that two sides have maintained frequent exchanges and achieved brilliant outcomes. With the LTU platform, he expected to promote more collaboration featuring joint teaching and research in each other’s leading disciplines, student and faculty exchanges as well as short-term study programs in HNU, thus enhancing research excellence and innovative competence of both sides.

Luo Qingming meeting with Mohamed Ibrahim bin Abdul Mutalib (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Ange Antoine Abena expressed pride that his university was the first in the Republic of the Congo to join the LTU. He highlighted the broad prospects for cooperation with HNU and proposed expanding joint endeavors in tropical agriculture and AI, as well as developing deeper and more pragmatic mechanisms for joint research and student and faculty exchanges.

Luo emphasized that HNU attaches great importance to the cooperation and exchanges with African universities, and is making active effort to explore diverse and in-depth collaboration models in joint education and research programs. He expected this LTU Summit to serve as an opportunity to enrich China-Africa educational cooperation, build stronger ties, and nurture more outstanding researchers.

Luo Qingming meeting with Ange Antoine Abena (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department)

Paul Mapfumo introduced the UZ’s research strengths in agriculture, environmental science, food security, and organic mining. He expressed hope for pragmatic cooperation with HNU to facilitate academic exchanges and build stronger bilateral ties.

Luo anticipated in-depth cooperation through building joint labs, launching student exchange programs, and advancing IUR integration. He proposed building a joint research base to work out pollution control solutions tailored to Zimbabwe’s needs and pursuing collaborative research in mechanical engineering, agricultural sciences, food science, and environmental science, along with exploring joint postgraduate training models, to nurture high-caliber professionals.

Luo Qingming meeting with Paul Mapfumo (Photo by Yang Mengna)

Eboro Emmanuel, Consul General of Congo (Brazzaville) in Guangzhou; Prof. Attwell Mamvuto, Vice President of the University of Zimbabwe; Ranka, Vice President of Marien Ngouabi University; Carter Tseng, Vice Chair of HNU’s IAB, and HNU Vice Presidents Zou Yonghua and Yue Wen, as well as heads of the departments concerned also attended the relevant meetings.

Translated by Han Yunsheng

Proofread by Kuang Xiaowen, Yang Jie