Who are CITEF, UWEE and BRITF?

As announced earlier, the Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA was set up in September 2018, see here. The China International Talent Exchange Foundation was mentioned but other organizations are involved.

To clarify all the different names, see the following document: 190511 CITF-BRITF

More about China International Talent Exchange Foundation

Website (Chinese only): http://www.citef.org.cn/

Chinese: 中国国际人才交流基金会
See also the following article:
China International Talent Exchange Foundation
2 June 2017
http://en.safea.gov.cn/2017-06/02/content_29589804.htm
The China International Talent Exchange Foundation is a non-profit organization authorized by the Chinese government to provide services and support for international communication and cooperation between talented individuals. The foundation is managed and guided by SAFEA. Its funds, used for that purpose in government departments, enterprises, research institutions, and civil organizations, come from government funding and donations from the public. The foundation is in charge of obtaining, managing and operating the funds, employing foreign experts, organizing overseas trainings, supporting research and development of high-tech industries, and consulting services for international communication.

The Belt and Road International Talent Fund (BRITF)

In order to speed up the international talent exchange and cooperation in the China’s international education industry, enhance the social and economic influence of China’s international education, and support economic globalization, industrial internationalization and the development of new Internet economy, Union of Western Eastern Education (UWEE) and China International Talent Exchange Foundation (CITEF) have jointly established the Belt and Road International Talent Fund (BRITF).
Fund size: 50 million RMB

That is another OBOR…

Immediate focus

The Belt and Road International Talent Fund (BRITF) – Foreign Experts Committee has as Rotating president: Gilbert Van Kerckhove.
Initially a lot of the activities will be focused of universities and special events.
Recent activities: in Beijing, Shandong province and Zhejiang Province. Later more on those.

Setting up of the Committee

On 18 September 2018 an official meeting was held to set up the new Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA.
SAFEA: State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, one of the most powerful organizations in China handling foreign experts.
In the meeting Mr. Wang Lishe, Director of the Project Development Department of China International Talent Exchange Foundation of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, and Mr. Yan Fei, Member of the International Talents Fund of the China International Talent Exchange Foundation, Mr. Li Licheng, the director of the special fund, and Ms. Yang Huan, the deputy director of the special fund, attended and listened to Mr. Gilbert Van Kerckhove’s work introduction on the preparatory stage of the foreign expert committee and the future development plan of the committee.

Introduction of the Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA

The members of the foreign expert committee are mainly international friends who have won the China Friendship Award. The first batch of 20 members, the first rotating chairman is Mr. Gilbert Van Kerckhove, and there are 7 standing committee members.
The complete title:
Gilbert Van Kerckhove
China International Talent Exchange Foundation
Belt and Road International Talent Fund – Rotating President, Foreign Experts Committee”
State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs
See here the official report in Chinese and in English:
180918 SAFEAmeeting

More to come

I will post more background information on the organizations involved in a following post.
The Experts have started to act and reports will be shown in coming posts.