In 6th Sep. 2025, the 13th Arc Cup International Welding Competition of 2025 Belt & Road and BRICS Competition of Skills Development and Technology Innovation was solemnly opened in Weifang, Shandong province, China.
A total of nearly 400 contestants from China, Brazil, India, Mongolia, Senegal, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore and other countries competed on the same stage, and 85 Chinese central enterprises and vocational colleges participated in the competition.
Group Photo of 13th Arc Cup International Welding Competition
At the beginning of the conference, each participating team shouted out their team slogans: “China welds, welding the world!”, “Arc light shines in the new era, craftsmanship and intelligent manufacturing create the future”. The sonorous and powerful shouts showed the positive and hard-working spirit of the contestants.
Wonderful cheers from each team at the opening ceremony
Gao Fenglin, Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (concurrently) and Chief Skills Expert of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony as a special guest. He said “The growth of welding skills into ‘great craftsmen’ is inseparable from the tenacity of hard work, the pursuit of excellence and the courage to innovate. It is also inseparable from the tempering and refinement of high-level, international competitions like the ‘Arc Cup’.
Gao Fenglin made the opening remark
Yu Changxue, Director of the China Center for International People-to-People Exchange, Ministry of Education, delivered an online speech. He hopes that young people from China and abroad will take the Arc Cup Competition as a new starting point, work together on the international stage in the future, and jointly represent emerging markets and developing countries to make a stronger “BRICS voice” and contribute more “BRICS wisdom.”
Yu Changxue delivered the speech
Luca Costa, CEO of the International Institute of Welding, Sun Zheng, member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Welding, and Felipe Morgado, Director of Vocational and Higher Education of the Brazilian National Industrial Training Service and Chairman of the BRICS Technology Innovation Group, delivered speeches on behalf of the leaders of the International Institute of Welding and the BRICS Cooperation Organization.
Dr. Liu Zhenying, as the leader of the competition organizer, delivered a speech. He hoped that this competition would not only become the highest stage to showcase international welding skills, but also become a representative event that “fully responds to the multi-dimensional cooperation results of BRICS countries in international group technology and skill standards mutual recognition, lecture training, human resources platform construction and technological innovation.”
The Opening of this Competition was launched
highlight of competition
The 13th Arc Cup International Welding Competition is co-organized by the China Chapter of the BRICS Business Council, the International Alliance of Skill Development for Belt & Road and BRICS (IASDBR), the Belt & Road and BRICS Training Center for Skill Development and Technology Innovation, the International Welding Competition Organizing Committee (Arc Cup), China Invention Association (CAI), China Center for International People-to-People Exchange, Ministry of Education (CCIPE), China Welding Association (CWA), the Welding Branch of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, China Workers Welding Technology Association (CWWTA), the International Institute of Welding (IIW) and the Asian Welding Federation (AWF).
