Lin Zaiyong and Catherine N. Doulova, rector of the Belarusian State Academy of Music, pose for a picture.

Shanghai Conservatory of Music President Lin Zaiyong and Deputy Party Secretary Liu Yan met with Catherine N. Doulova, rector of the Belarusian State Academy of Music, on October 13, 2016.

Lin congratulated Doulova on her election as a member of the Council of the Republic of the Belarusian National Assembly.

Doulova thanked Lin for his invitation and said China and Belarus have entered a new era of comprehensive strategic partnership announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko one week before her visit to Shanghai.

She said she brought a student choir from the academy to perform at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in response to the new initiative by the two leaders for comprehensive cooperation.

Doulova noted that 2017 will be the 25th anniversary of the founding of diplomatic relationship between the two countries and the Year of Belarusian Culture in China. It will also mark the 85th anniversary of her academy and the 90th anniversary of the SHCM. The two schools can use the occasion to expand cooperation.

Lin said he was satisfied with the fruitful cooperation between the two schools and he believed the rector’s visit would further strengthen their cooperation.

Faculty and student exchanges should be increased and professors should go to each other’s school to give lectures, Lin said, adding a detailed plan is needed to carry out cooperation in various areas.

After the meeting, Lin and Liu accompanied Doulova to see the Museum of Oriental Music Instruments on the campus.

Matsel Valeriy, Belarusian consul-general in Shanghai, and Chen Xiaoyi, director of international exchanges of the SHCM, joined the meeting.