On November 19, the Economic and Commercial Counselor’s Office of Chinese Embassy in Georgia held the “Meeting of Chinese Enterprises in Georgia and Faculty and Students of the Confucius Institute in Georgia”. Yue Bin, Chinese ambassador to Georgia, and Liu Bo, an economic and commercial counselor, attended the meeting. The Confucius Institute of Tbilisi Free University is co-sponsored by Lanzhou University (LZU) and Georgia. Its president, Marlene, attended the forum with the faculty and students. The meeting was chaired by counselor Liu Bo.
Counselor Liu Bo conveyed the documents on the construction of the Confucius Institute issued by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce hoped each economic and commercial institute abroad to attach importance to involving relevant institutes and Chinese enterprises into the construction of the Confucius Institute and to guide them to participate in the construction of the Confucius Institute. The Ministry of Commerce encouraged each Chinese enterprise abroad to perform their social responsibility and support the Confucius Institute as a public welfare cause. Relevant institutes in Georgia are expected to respond to the documents by providing as much support and assistance as possible to the Confucius Institute in promoting Chinese Language in Georgia.
Ambassador Yue Bin delivered a keynote speech. He referred that the relation between China and Georgia has been developing rapidly over the past 23 years since China and Georgia established diplomatic ties, especially in recent years. China has become the third largest trading partner of Georgia. And with the frequent high-level exchanges and increasing cultural exchanges between China and Georgia, the need for Chinese language talents is rising rapidly. Learning Chinese language has become a trend. Ambassador Yue Bin encouraged the Chinese enterprises in Georgia to expand interactions and exchanges with the Confucius Institute and provide more internships and communication opportunities for the students of the Confucius Institute. The ambassador valued the achievements made by the Confucius Institute in Georgia and expected the Confucius Institute to continue to serve as a platform for exchanges between the Chinese enterprises and students of Chinese language.
President Marlene introduced current circumstances of the Confucius Institute and the promotion of Chinese language in Georgian primary and secondary schools. She referred that the institute had trained a large number of Chinese language talents over the past four years since its founding and had greatly expanded the influence of Chinese language in Georgia. By 2014, Lanzhou University has sent to Georgia three groups of Chinese language teachers as volunteers, who have made a great contribution to the promotion of Chinese language in Georgia. President Marlene also said that she expected to strengthen the cooperation and exchange between the Confucius Institute and Chinese enterprises in Georgia, so as to train more senior Chinese language talents in Georgia and contribute to the sound development of the two countries.
Ambassador Yue Bin and counselor Liu Bo concluded the meeting with summarizing remarks. They commended the atmosphere of the meeting and confirmed the positive role the meeting had played in promoting the cooperation and development of Chinese enterprises and the promotion of Chinese language in Georgia.
(Translated by Wei Xianchao; proofread by Sissi Xu)
