On September 7, the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Training Program for Officials from the Americas was held at the Xinjian Building, Xuhui Campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Co-organized by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), the five-day program was themed “Deepening Sub-national Practical Cooperation through Shared Experience and Innovation in Urban Governance and Development.”
The ceremony was attended by XU Kai, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and LIU Weidong, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, both of whom delivered remarks. Prof. JIA Kai, Vice Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), moderated the ceremony. Government officials from Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, and the United States joined the event, together with representatives from the Americans Affairs Division of the Shanghai FAO, SJTU’s Division of Global Cooperation and Exchange, and SIPA.
Speaking on behalf of SJTU, Vice President LIU Weidong extended a warm welcome to the participants who had traveled from across the Americas, and expressed sincere gratitude to the Shanghai FAO for its long-standing support of SJTU’s international engagement. He noted that 2026 marks the 130th anniversary of SJTU’s founding, and that talent cultivation and internationalization have remained key engines of the University’s growth over more than a century. In recent years, he added, SJTU's ties with the Americas have grown ever closer, and these handshakes across the Pacific bear witness to SJTU’s enduring commitment to open education. He encouraged the participants to engage in open exchange and sincere dialogue throughout the program, to gain a deeper understanding into Shanghai's urban development experience, and to serve as bridges connecting China with the Americas.
On behalf of the Shanghai FAO, XU Kai described the program as a vivid embodiment of President Xi Jinping’s important statement that “the hope of China-US relations lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at sub-national levels.” For Latin American and Caribbean countries, he noted, President Xi has quoted a line from the ancient Chinese poet Wang Anshi – “True joy in life lies in heartfelt mutual understanding”, to describe how the Chinese and Latin American peoples engage heart-to-heart and forge ahead hand-in-hand. He then traced the milestones of Shanghai’s exchange and cooperation with the Americas, from the 40th anniversary of sister-city ties with Chicago, the 15th anniversary of friendly exchange relations with Buenos Aires, to the launch of the Chancay–Shanghai shipping route. He expressed the hope that the participants would come to feel both the warmth of Shanghai’s “people-centered city” philosophy and the dynamism of its development, transforming sister-city friendship into tangible sub-national cooperation. As a flagship foreign-related program with years of continuity, this year's program combines keynote lectures with field visits, opening a window onto Shanghai and building a bridge for mutual learning among the participating officials.
The program featured a well-designed and content-rich curriculum. In the lecture sessions, experts and scholars from SJTU and SIPA shared insights on “Shanghai's 15th Five-Year Plan and the‘Five Centers’ Initiative,”“AI-Powered Smart City Development,”and “Industrial Upgrading and International Cooperation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,”offering a multidimensional account of how a megacity like Shanghai pursues urban governance and technology-enabled development. The field visits took participants to the Xuhui District Xujiahui Sub-district Community Affairs Service Center, the China-BRICS Artificial Intelligence Development and Cooperation Center, Sunwin Bus Corporation, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub, and the China International Import Expo Bureau, and other sites. These provided a panoramic look at Shanghai’s explorations in urban governance, technological innovation, emergency management, and cultural heritage.
As a key platform through which SJTU engages with the nation’s diplomatic strategy and supports sub-national foreign affairs work, SIPA has long undertaken a wide range of international training programs, advancing talent development and international exchange from a global perspective. Building on the momentum of this program, SIPA will continue to leverage its disciplinary strengths and platform resources to deepen dialogue and cooperation with partners across the Americas in grassroots governance, urban development, and innovation, contributing the wisdom and strength of SJTU and SIPA to expanding people-to-people diplomacy and deepening sub-national practical cooperation.
