On February 10th, 2025, Prof. Liu Weidong, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), met with Mark Brown, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, and his delegation at the Minhang Campus of SJTU. Accompanying the delegation were Wang Xiaolong, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Niue;Wu Xiaoming, Counsellor of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Ye Liang, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.

Vice President Liu Weidong extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Mark Brown and his delegation on behalf of SJTU. He highlighted the profound friendship between the People's Republic of China and the Cook Islands, noting the cooperation between the two sides is deepening in the fields of politics, economy and cultural exchanges. 

Lv Haining, Researcher of School of Ocean and Civil Engineering and Chief Engineer of the “Pioneer II” project, introduced SJTU’s active implementation of the “Big Ocean” action plan and its achievements in deep-sea mineral resource development.

Prime Minister Mark Brown and his delegation also visited the Deepwater Offshore Basin at SJTU. Peng Tao, Vice Dean of School of Ocean and Civil Engineering and Director of the Ship and Ocean Engineering Experiment Center, introduced the main functionalities of the offshore basin and the research and development of marine service equipment. 

The meeting was attended by the representative faculty members from SJTU’s International Affairs Division, Division of Research Management, School of Ocean and Civil Engineering and other relevant departments.