On October 30, a delegation from the “2024 China-Italy Think Tank Forum” visited Nankai University. The delegation included Patrizio Bianchi, former Italian Minister of Education, Corrado Clini, former Italian Minister of Environment, and Luca Danese, former Italian Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, along with domestic experts such as Sun Yanhong from the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. President Chen Yulu met with the delegation on Balitai Campus, accompanied by Vice President Chen Jun.

Chen Yulu welcomed the delegation, provided an overview of NKU’s history and its current situation, and introduced its Italian language department and cooperation programs with Italian universities and institutes. He hoped that the visit would boost NKU’s Italian language department and help foster deeper and diverse partnerships with Italian universities and research institutions.

Patrizio Bianchi thanked Nankai for its warm reception and shared his hopes for greater involvement of Nankai’s scholars in the “China-Italy Think Tank Forum”.

Corrado Clini underscored the importance of maintaining world peace as a crucial global priority, highlighting the potential of exchanges and cooperation in higher education to contribute to this global cause.

Sun Yanhong introduced the forum’s development and expressed gratitude to NKU for facilitating discussions on China-Italy cultural and academic exchanges. She conveyed her anticipation of more substantial collaborations with Nankai in Italian studies and other fields.

Later that day, the delegation visited the College of Foreign Languages for a roundtable discussion. Both sides engaged in deep exchanges on key research topics concerning China-Italy relations.

（Edited and translated by Nankai News Team.)