On the afternoon of September 11, 2013 local time, the 2013 Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in Europe was convened in the Palace of Republic, located in the center of Minsk, the national capital of Belarus. The attendees of the opening ceremony included Belarusian Vice Premier Anatoly Tozik, Belarusian Minister of Education Sergey Maskevich, Chinese Ambassador to Belarus Gong Jianwei and Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters and Director-General of Hanban Xu Lin.

While addressing the opening of the conference, Belarusian Vice Premier Anatoly Tozik spoke highly of the relations between China and Belarus. He said that this conference in Belarus would become not only the demonstration of China putting a high value on the ties with Belarus, but also the recognition of the achievements made by the two Confucius Institutes in Belarus.

Gong Jianwei, Chinese Ambassador to Belarus, said that with the continuous development of globalization, China has increasingly captured worldwide attention. The world needs to know about China, and China, too, needs to know about the world. He further added that each country has its own dream, and now China is striving to realize hers--the “China Dream”. The Confucius Institute will make a contribution to the combination as well as the realization of the “China Dream” and other countries’ dreams.

Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters Xu Lin said in her speech that the aim of the Confucius Institute is to help people across the world learn the Chinese language, understand the Chinese culture and enhance the exchanges and collaborations between China and other countries, and of course the sound development of Confucius Institutes depends upon our concerted effort. She also extended her sincere gratitude to all the Confucius Institutes and their host universities in Europe for their support to Hanban.

A total of around 200 representatives from 72 Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms of 18 European countries attended the conference. They will discuss how to complete the tasks and attain the goals in the Development Plan of Confucius Institute in the three-day conference.

Conference site

Plate-awarding ceremony of Confucius Classroom of the Confucius Institute at Belarusian State University

Xu Lin, Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters, is conferred on Honorary Professor at Belarusian State University