Ambassador of Ukraine Awarded Legion of Merit to CAE Member Guan Qiao

In accordance with Order 886/2010 issued by Mr. Victor Yanukovich, the President of Ukraine, Mr. Yuri Vasilyevich Kostenko, Ambassador of Ukraine in China, presented "Ukraine's Third Legion of Merit" to CAE Member Guan Qiao in AVIC Manufacturing Institute on November 10, 2010, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the promo-tion of friendship and exchanges between Chi-na and Ukraine.

Present also in the award presentation ceremony were Gao Jianshe, Dep-uty General Manager of AVIC, Li Peigen, Di-rector of the Mechanical and Vehicle Engi-neering Academic Division of CAE, also the President of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Li Xiaohong, Chair-person of the General Department of AVIC, and Song Tianhu, Vice Chairman of the Chi-nese Mechanical Engineering Society.

During the ceremony, Ambassador Yuri Vasilyevich Kostenko said in his speech that, CAE Member Guan Qiao is an excellent scien-tist and social activist, who has set up a new school in the study of the welding structural integrity, thus helped to pave the way for more scientific and technological collaboration be-tween the two countries in the future.

Guan has contributed significantly to the scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation be-tween the science community in China and in Ukraine, the ambassador said, who then ex-pressed his hope that Guan continue to partici-pate in mutually beneficial cooperation projects between China and Ukraine.

Guan extended his gratefulness for the Ukrainian government and people, saying that this medal should be viewed as a symbol of the friendship and cooperation between the two great nations and peoples. He said that in the fifties in the last century when he was studying in Moscow, he was greatly inspired by the con-tributions the renowned experts from the re-nowned Barton Welding Institute made for the progress of welding technology.

Barton Weld-ing Institute, together with Academician Barton himself, has long enjoyed super high prestige in the world. And they can be regarded as special assets and potential of Ukraine in the world s science and technology community. Recent years has witnessed increasing amount of cooperation between the two countries as well as frequent exchanges of visits of experts.

And, to our great delight, the cooperation ef-forts made in various fields have brought about fruitful results to both sides. Guan wished for a more prosperous science and technology development for Ukraine, and happier lives for Ukrainian people.

Director Li Peigen said in his address on behalf of CAE President Zhou Ji that, the honor Guan received today is also a glory for CAE and its Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering Academic Division. Over the years, Guan has not only made exceptional achievements in his own professional field, which led directly to the development of aviation welding technology, but also made tremendous contributions to the promotion of international academic exchanges, and to the construction of CAE as well as the Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering Academic Division.

Mr. Gao Jianshe, the Deputy General Manager of AVIC, extended warm welcome to Ambassador Yuri Vasilyevich Kostenko on behalf of General Manager Lin Zuoming, as well as the 400,000 staff members, for his coming all the way to China, who also congra-tulated CAE Member Guan for his being con-ferred such honor.

Gao said in his speech that Guan is an outstanding representative of the huge number of Chinese scientific and tech-nological personnel, who is also the pride of AVIC. Guan has been actively learning and then disseminating Ukrainian scientific and technological civilization, paving way for scientific and technological collaboration be-tween the two countries and helping make the welding industry in China a brand new world.

Gao also said that, since science and technolo-gy plays a vital role in economic and social development, China and Ukraine should make good use of the existing channels and basis for cooperation, and further promote bilateral scientific and technological cooperation, so as to further promote the development of aviation science & technology and industry in both countries.

(By Wang Xiaojun, from HKB Avi-ation News , November 2010; translated by Liu Chang)