The 16th Ceremony and Symposium of "Great Wall Friendship Award" was held at Shougang Park on February 23 and recognized 15 foreign nationals for their remarkable contributions to Beijing with this prestigious accolade.

The winners praised the achievements that Beijing has made in economic and social development in recent years. They expressed their commitment to further assisting in Beijing's pursuit of high-quality advancement and fostering collaboration between China and the world. The winners spoke about their work and put forward suggestions on three topics: promoting deeper integration of the innovation and industrial chains to improve regional economic integration, advancing international cooperation in basic research to jointly tackle major global challenges, and promoting people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning to benefit global civilization.

The "Great Wall Friendship Award" boasts the only award of its kind and the highest honor conferred upon foreign nationals in Beijing. Since its establishment in 1999, 221 foreign nationals from 32 countries have been decorated with the award.

Winners of the 16th "Great Wall Friendship Award"

1. Carl-Alexander Scheef

German national, Vice President of Bayer Healthcare Co., Ltd.

2. Karl Deppen

German national, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG and Chairman of Daimler (China) Commercial Vehicle Investment Co., Ltd.

3. Nathan Richard Stoner

U.S. national, Global Vice President of Cummins Inc., Chairman of Cummins China

4. Juergen Peter Schmitz

German national, CEO of ERGO China

5. Joseph Knighton Hoskin

U.S. national, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Beijing International Resort Co., Ltd., Theme Park and Resort Management Branch

6. Sergio Cecotti

Italian national, Researcher of Yanqi Lake Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications

7. Mark Van Loosdrecht

Dutch national, Visiting Professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands

8. Tatsuo Arai

Japanese national, Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, Chief Expert of Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Intelligent Robots and Systems (BAICIRS), Founding President of the International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC)

9. Antonius Bisseling

Dutch national, Distinguished Professor and Chief Scientist at Beijing University of Agriculture, Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands

10. Francesco Faiola

Italian national, Head of Stem Cell Toxicology Research Group, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environments Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

11. Wong Tien Yin

Singaporean national, Vice-Provost of Tsinghua University, Director of the School of Medicine, Tsinghua University

12. Matthias Korell

German national, Visiting Professor of Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Head Physician and Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Johanna Etienne Hospital in Germany

13. Sten Vermund

U.S. national, Honorary Professor at Capital Medical University, Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) at Yale School of Public Health and Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine

14. Laszlo Vajda

Hungarian national, Professor and Senior Expert, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports (Beijing Institute for International Olympic Studies)

15. Vladimir Malakhov

Austrian national, Professor at Beijing Dance Academy

(Source: WeChat Account "Shizheng")