The importance of sharing experiences

The visit by CLACSO officials to Shanghai University fulfilled its purpose of strengthening ties between the two institutions. And, as Executive Secretary Karina Batthyány stated, it opens doors for “To disseminate ideas and research from Latin America and the Caribbean at Shanghai University.”

He added that the meeting with representatives of the Latin American studies program at Shanghai University “It allowed us to think together about how to develop the Global South perspective on strategic issues, particularly poverty, social inequalities, and development. To that end, we have decided to hold a forum in 2020 with the participation of researchers from our Latin American Council of Social Sciences and Shanghai University.”«

In turn, history professor Changgang Guo pointed out that “This meeting with CLACSO is very important to us. We share a common goal: how to develop and how to reduce poverty. For 40 years, we in China have had experience in this area, and we are pleased to share this experience. At the same time, I want to highlight how you at CLACSO have been addressing this issue. We emphasize that Latin America plays a very important role on the international stage—economically, politically, and culturally—in such a globalized world. Since 2015, we have convened the China-CELAC Forum. Both China and Latin America are developing regions, and we see some common challenges. In this sense, we could share our experiences to see what measures we can take. Latin America is also very important to us. So, for us, Latin America is not just a large market; we see it as an opportunity to share experience and confront challenges. In this regard, we should cooperate more.”

Finally, Karina Batthyány explained that “They told us that one of the problems they face is that Chinese students interested in Latin America and the Caribbean have access to literature in English or Chinese, and generally lack research on our region.” In that regard, he added, “We are working to ensure that all the research and publications we produce at CLACSO are available in China. And for that, it is essential to have strategic works from our Latin American and Caribbean Social Sciences Library translated into Chinese.”