On August 24^th, a 14-member cadre delegation of PAIS Alliance from Ecuador headed by Executive Secretary Gabriela Rivadeneira visited Shanghai Administration Institute (SAI) to learn about cadre training, Party building, reform and opening up in Shanghai and relevant circumstances. The delegation had the company of working staff from the International Department of the Central Committee of CPC and Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal Peoples Government and Consul General of the Ecuadorian Consulate in Shanghai Ms. Karina Soledad Morales Herrera. Mr. GUO Qingsong, Vice President of SAI, presided over the meeting, with Ms. ZHOU Jingqing, Director of the Research Division, and Mr. ZHAO Gangyin, Deputy Director of the CPC History and Party Building Teaching and Research Department being present on the occasion.

    Mr. GUO Qingsong extended welcome to the delegation on behalf of SAI. He mentioned SAIs partnership with the Brazilian National School of Public Administration, National Institute of Public Administration of Argentina and Cuban National Official Institute, etc. which are also located in Latin America, and expressed wishes to establish a cooperative relation with relevant agencies of Ecuador. As he briefly introduced the operation of SAI, he talked about the integrated schooling provided by Shanghai Party Institute of CPC and SAI, for which there is one head school and five branches. According to him, SAI operates with the functions of teaching, training, R&D, decision-making consultation, graduate education, etc. It provides training for nearly 50,000 persons every year, and has completed more than 30 national and local research programs. In addition to the training for Party cadres and civil servants, the school also offers graduate education. The school is in an integrated development of teaching, R&D and decision-making consultation. The reports on decision-making consultation written by SAI professors have got positive comments by Party and national leaders for many times.

    Ms. ZHOU Jingqing introduced the development history of CPC and the development strategy of Shanghai, and elaborated on the history of Chinese people from standing up, getting rich to being powerful with the development of CPC, as well as the glorious development process of Shanghai from the birthplace of CPC to the “four centers” (international economic center, international financial center, international trade center, and international shipping center) and to an outstanding global city. By focusing on the changes in Shanghai during the three historical periods of 1978-1992, 1992-2008 and 2008-present, Mr. ZHAO Gangyin emphasized the radical transformation that Shanghai has been through and its status remolding by courtesy of the reform and opening up policy. 

    Rivadeneira expressed her gratitude for SAI hospitality and said that the main purpose of her visit to China this time, at the invitation of the International Department of the Central Committee of CPC, was to learn about the achievements that China has made since the reform and opening up and to learn from CPCs experience in administration and governance. According to her, PAIS Alliance has been ruling for 11 years and is facing great challenges in its development and reform. It has an intention to learn from the CPC model to build its own party school and provide long-term and systematic training for its cadres to improve their quality.

    The two parties made exchanges on the functions of Party school, Party spirit education, values training, basic requirements for Party members and intra-party election, etc. Afterwards, the delegation also visited some facilities of the Institute.