Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong received the New York University Presidential Medal of Honor last month, while visiting the United States to kickstart the first round of the U.S.-China Social and Cultural Dialogue. She was bestowed the university’s highest honor by NYU President Andrew Hamilton.

In her speech, Liu cited the landmark graduation of NYU Shanghai’s inaugural Class of 2017 in May, lauding the cooperation between NYU and China in recent years as “very fruitful.”

“The establishment of NYU Shanghai in 2012 in partnership with East China Normal University has especially become a significant milestone of Sino-U.S. education cooperation,” Liu said.

“I keenly feel that cultural and people-to-people exchange as a foundation of Sino-U.S. relations deserves great attention and requires long-term investment,” she said, adding that cooperation in education between the two countries not only has mutual benefits but also helps shape the future.

While in New York, Liu also attended the 2017 China-U.S. Young Maker Summit and China-U.S. Youth Innovation Center inauguration ceremony at New York University. Accompanied by NYU President Andrew Hamilton and NYU Shanghai Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Lehman, the Vice Premier visited the China-U.S. Young Maker Competition to experience an exhibition of works from NYU and Chinese universities.

This post comes to us from NYU Shanghai and originally appeared here.