Visegrad jubilee in Chongqing
23.04.2021
On 23 April 2021, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu, Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing and Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chengdu commemorated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Visegrad Group that takes place during Poland’s V4 presidency.
In October last year, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu organised a “Visegrad Evening” in Chengdu in the same format and another meeting was scheduled for spring this year in the second most important municipality of the consular district – Chongqing.
The first event devoted to cooperation within the V4 was the “Visegrad Group – Chengdu/Chongqing Innovation Cooperation Roundtable” attended by Polish, Hungarian, and Czech general consuls as well as Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau, Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province, and Chongqing Academy of Science and Technology. The event’s special guest was Secretary General of the Research Center for Visegrad Group – the V4’s Analytical Centre, newly launched this year at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, unique in China.
Afterwards, a jointly organised reception celebrating the V4’s establishment was held in the banquet hall of the Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipality. The meeting brought together representatives of local authorities, the consular corps, entrepreneurs operating in the region, professors of local higher educational institutions as well as representatives of Polish, Czech and Hungarian communities living in southwest China. The guest of honour at the event was His Excellency Máté Pesti, Ambassador of Hungary to China, who at the time paid an official visit to the city.
A recital of classical Polish, Czech and Hungarian music by a talented young pianist Leo Zhang added splendour to the evening. The event was complemented by photographs depicting the region, presented at an exhibition entitled „Empty Cities”, which had been earlier on display in the Polish Institute in Beijing. Local representatives who are not well acquainted with the V4 format could learn about collaboration in the region as part of China’s 17 + 1 cooperation, as well as principles of establishing “the Belt and Road Initiative”.
Photos: Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government and Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu
