On 15 February, BritCham Shanghai was delighted to meet with Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association (SORSA).
President of the SORSA UK Branch Mr MAO Xiangdong and Vice President of the SORSA UK Branch Mr GU Weiwei welcomed BritCham Shanghai Chair Ray Chisnall and the Chamber delegation.
Mao Xiangdong and Gu Weiwei introduced the background of SORSA and its UK Branch. With around 18,000 active members, SORSA dedicates to promoting people-to-people diplomatic relationships, encouraging the innovation and entrepreneurship of overseas returned scholars, and providing all-around services to its members.
SORSA UK Branch looks forward to working together with BritCham Shanghai to explore the potential for cooperation in the areas of ESG, Education, Financial Services, UK alumni activities, etc.
Ray Chisnall introduced the Chamber’s services and development plans which are based on the three pillars of Advocacy, Knowledge and Community. From 2021, one of the Chamber’s key focuses is ESG-related activities, including the annual ESG Summit in September, ESG China Awards and SDG series events. The Chamber’s reposition this year will focus more on localisation to open more conversations between the UK and China. Ray agrees with Mr Mao and Mr Gu that there is a huge room for cooperation between the two organisations through resource sharing and complementary advantages.
On behalf of the Chamber’s ESG Committee, LI Linmao further explained the mission of the ESG Committee and introduced the 2023 activity plan.
Also in attendance were BritCham Shanghai Financial Services Committee Chair Tim Yu, Deputy Executive Director Janet Jiang and Project and Industry Relations Executive Eloise Zhang; key members of the SORSA UK Branch.
