In his speech, Professor Wang Bo made reference to ABCI’s numerous achievements since it was established in Athens, Greece in 2009. In those ten years, the Athens Business Confucius Institute has successfully promoted the cooperative development between Greek and foreign universities and strengthened cultural exchanges between the youth of China and Greece. In addition, the Athens Business Confucius Institute actively responded to the national Belt and Road development strategy and set up teaching sites for COSCO Shipping Group's companies in the “Belt and Road” Piraeus Port, which has become a good example of the Confucius Institute actively serving the Belt and Road Initiative. “We are certainly looking forward to enhance our overall collaboration and achieve a broader and deeper cooperation between the two sides in student training, teacher exchange, and scientific research”, mentioned Prof. Wang Bo.

Foreign Dean Alexandros Papalexandris, Chinese Dean Yan Hongwei

In 2019, Athens Business Confucius Institute in Greece launched youth Chinese courses and Spoken Chinese language lessons. It has established a staff training and teaching site at the PPA port of COSCO SHIPPING Group. Its distinctive COSCO Chinese course provides language lessons and culture awareness for the implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative. In addition, the Chinese Bridge Competition, the “Belt and Road” China-Greece University Student Summit and the Greek student summer camps and exchange groups in China, among others, are literally building bridges and connecting people of different continents and nations through cultural exchange and integration. In 2020, the Athens Business Confucius Institute aims to increase its popularity in Greece, further improve the quality of education provided, establish new local teaching points, and build the teaching brand of the Business Confucius Institute in Athens, Greece.

Li Yan, Deputy Secretary of the School of Foreign Languages, Sun Tao, Director of the Greek Department of the School of Foreign Languages

Li Yan, deputy secretary of the School of Foreign Languages, made reference to the international training programme and cooperation between students of both sides. Sun Tao, the director of the Greek Department of the School of Foreign Languages, also noted that he is looking forward to using the Athens Business Confucius Institute’s establishment for the promotion, cultivation and knowledge of Greek diverse talents in their school.

Gifts exchanged

Group photo