On October 10-12, 2019, International Association of Universities for the Third Aged (AIUTA) held its 105th Council Meeting and a related International Seminar on “Culture and Elderly Universities” in Byblos, Lebanon. A delegation from China Association of Universities for the Aged (CAUA) attended the meeting and seminar. The members of this delegation include Ma Xianguo (Executive President of Shanghai University for the Elderly), Wang Younong (Director of International Liaison Department of CAUA), Shi Zumei (Vice President of Fujian University for the Elderly), Zhang Zelin (President of Elderly University of Jinjiang District, Chengdu City), Zhou Jianhui (Provost of  Guangzhou University for the Elderly), Wang Yuan (Staff Member of Shanghai University for the Elderly), and Liu Chang (Staff Member of Guangzhou University for the Elderly).

At 3:00 PM on October 10, Professor Vellas, President of AIUTA, inaugurated the 105th Meeting of AIUTA Council. The meeting adopted the “Summary of the 104th Council Meeting Held in Wuhan, China” submitted by Secretary-General Maria Chester. Wang Younong, Director of CAUA International Liaison Department, delivered a speech about the Wuhan International Seminar on “Belt & Road Initiative and Elderly Education”. Monica Harvey, representative from the University of Sherbrook of Canada, gave a presentation on the next council meeting and international seminar. The 105th meeting also made a decision to admit a few new members into the AIUTA council. Representatives from Australia, China, Senegal, and Guinea were admitted into the council. Recommended by CAUA and through a secret ballot, Mr. Ma Xianguo, Executive President of Shanghai University for the Elderly, was elected the First Vice President of AIUTA. This was warmly applauded by the meeting attendees.

At 10:00 AM on October 11, an opening ceremony of the international seminar on “Culture and the Third Age University” was held at the Faris Theatre of American University of Technology (AUT) in Byblos, Lebanon. The ceremony was hosted by AUT President Ms. Ghada Hinain. Lebanon’s Minister of Culture, Dr. Mohammed Daoud, attended the ceremony and made a keynote speech, emphasizing the importance of mutual exchanges and common development of diverse cultures. Ambassadors of Argentina and the Czech Republic also spoke at the ceremony. Two diplomats from Chinese Embassy in Lebanon were present on this occasion. The seminar started right after the opening ceremony. Professor Ma,Xianguo gave a speech on “Cultural Heritage and China’s Universities for the Elderly” with illustrated slides, which aroused great interest among the audiences. Representatives from Canada, Spain, France, Slovakia and Lebanon also spoke at the seminar in turn. In his concluding remarks at the end, President Vellas of AIUTA pointed out that culture was the essence and soul of universities for the elderly. “We should treat culture as the heart of the elderly universities anywhere around the world.”

At the Lebanon meeting, AIUTA proposed two essential projects for the next phase of international cooperation. The first project is “Cultural Archaeology and New Silk Road”. The main purpose of this project is to combine “the international educational activities of elderly universities” with “China’s Belt and Road Initiative”. The second project is about research on “New Technology and Elderly Universities”. This is also the theme of “Academic Exchanges in Shanghai, China” to be organized in April 2020 and of “Canadian International Seminar” to be held in May 2020. President Vellas sincerely hoped that AIUTA and CAUA could have a very close cooperation in this aspect. He expected Chinese elderly universities to actively participate in all these activities.
 
At the Lebanon seminar this time, many of the elderly students of American University of Technology (which was the host of this seminar) volunteered to work for the seminar. They actively exchanged views with scholars from different countries and became an attractive group at the meeting and seminar. The documents issued at the seminar also included the “Wuhan Consensus” (in both English and French) adopted by the 104th council meeting held in Wuhan, China, in May 2019. This demonstrates that AIUTA platform has a close relationship with China, especially with China's “Belt and Road” Initiative.