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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Pictured during the signing ceremony at the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday, 29th July are from left Dr. Godfrey Eneas, President of BAMSI, Prime Minister Christie and Yu Zhigang, President of Ocean University of China.
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Remarks By The Right Honorable Perry G. Christie
Prime Minister Of The Bahamas
Signing Of Agreement Corporation Between OUC And BAMSI
29th July 2015
Last January 9th, 2015 when I led a delegation to The People’s Republic of China, the Minister of Foreign Affairs signed on behalf of my government a Memorandum of Understanding between Ocean University of China (OUC) and the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute, known as BAMSI.
This afternoon we have taken a further step by entering into an agreement of cooperation between these two institutions, OUC and BAMSI, to be signed by the presidents of both institutions.
This is an historic advancement for BAMSI which is still in its embryonic stages of development and entering its second year as a tertiary level institution.
The importance of the agreement to OUC is manifested by the fact that a strong delegation of its faculty and staff headed by the president and vice president of OUC, along with the Ambassador of the Republic of China are here in The Bahamas.
The delegation spent Tuesday and Wednesday in north and central Andros where they were not only viewing the campus and the infrastructure of the tutorial and commercial farm and the marine facilities, but they held important collaborative discussions with the academic arm of the institute.
The discussions with the Executive Director, the Farm Director and the Marine Director along with faculty members from both agriculture and the marine sciences identified specific areas of collaboration on resource matters as well as faculty and student exchanges.
With specific reference to the marine sciences, the disciplines identified were:
Aquaculture-the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.
Mariculture- farming in the sea via cage fishing of local and new fish species, like the cobia
Food processing-adding value to fish products and the development of new fish products for the export market.
In agriculture there was identification of organic fertilizers using seaweeds as the raw material.
The teams identified a joint venture opportunity between OUC commercial company and the commercial activities of BAMSI in a number of exploratory areas which would enable the transfer of new technologies to both our agriculture and fisheries sub-sectors.
While in Central Andros, the delegation had the opportunity to see the vast eco-system of Andros, particularly the blue holes and the bonefish and fly-fishing flats which are world renown. They were able to observe up close and personal the natural beauty of the marine life of the Bahamas.
This agreement cooperation will open the door beginning with the academic year 2016-2017 for OUC to accept annually students and faculty from bamsi to studentS at ouc at the postgraduate level of M.Sc and doctorate degrees. OUC will assist in obtaining Chinese government scholarships for this arrangement.
In conjunction, OUC will send students to BAMSI for internship or in the semester abroad program.
The agreement will foster academic links through faculty training in workshops; seminars and academic meetings; and the exchange of informative scientific materials and data. Additionally, collaborative research will be one of the high points of cooperation.
It is within this framework after joint consultation in Andros that a cooperative document will be drafted by BAMSI and submitted to OUC for consideration.
To reciprocate, OUC has invited BAMSI executives to visit OUC later this year.
I am very excited about what has transpired and I am looking forward to this strategic partnership between OUC and BAMSI.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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