The Opening Ceremony of the Confucius Institute ofUniversity of Nouakchott at Mauritania was Held

The opening ceremony of the Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott, Mauritania, was held on June 24 local time. More than 200 people attended the unveiling ceremony, including Guo Jian, the Party secretary of HBU, Zhang Jianguo, the Chinese ambassador to Mauritania, Wang Jian, the political counselor, Shao Baohui, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute, West Ould Salim, the Mauritanian minister of higher education and research, Ahmed Haoba, the president of university of Nouakchott, Sheikh Saad Bouh Kamala,the foreign dean of the Confucius Institute/dean of the college of literature, science and humanities, representatives of Chinese medical team to Mauritania, representatives of Chinese-funded institutions, teachers and students both in HBU and Chinese department in university of Nouakchott.

The unveiling ceremony was presided over by dean Kamala. Counselor Wang and dean Kamala respectively read the congratulatory letters in Chinese and French from Ma Jianfei, the deputy director-general of the Confucius Institute. He said in the letter that the great achievements between China and Mauritania in various fields for they enjoying political mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit and supporting each other. He hoped that university of Nouakchott and Hebei university will cooperate closely and make joint efforts to position the Confucius Institute as an important platform for Mauritanian teachers, students and citizens to learn Chinese and know about China, and make positive contributions to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

The ambassador Zhang said in his speech that Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott represented a milestone in the history of China and Mauritania’s cultural and educational exchanges, and was the concrete outcome of the "One Belt and Road" initiative and the "eight major actions" of the Beijing summit of the forum on China-Africa cooperation as well. He expressed his warm congratulations on the establishment of the Institute and hoped take this opportunity to make greater efforts to support Chinese language teaching in Mauritania and cultural exchanges between the two countries. He also expected that this Institute will be a symbol of China-Mauritania cultural exchanges through full support and assist from relevant departments of China and Mauritania.

Minister Salim said in his delivery that Confucius was a great Chinese philosopher, an incomparable outstanding thinker, an extraordinary sage and an enlightened educator. The Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott set a new milestone for the already exemplary cooperation between Mauritania and China. Students in Mauritania are passionate about learning Chinese for being able to share information and exchange with billions of people, which means more job opportunities. He hoped both the level of Chinese language teaching in Mauritania and the cultural cooperation between the two countries can be enhanced for the establishment of Confucius Institute.

The Party secretary Guo pointed out that in the general trend of exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations, China adhered to mutual learning and win-win cooperation with other countries, which also brought rare historical opportunities and broad space for the development of Confucius Institutes. Hebei university seriously commit to strongly support the development of the Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott in the future and vigorously promote comprehensive exchanges between teachers and students of the two universities. In addition, it also strongly supports the Confucius Institute in Chinese international education promotion and cultural exchange and cooperation.

The president Haoba said the Confucius Institute at university of Nouakchott had a bright future, we should promote Chinese language and culture dissemination with respecting the Mauritanian law. The students in Nouakchott and ordinary citizens at different ages are welcomed to seize the opportunity to apply for the Confucius Institute of University of Nouakchott to learn Chinese language and Chinese culture with extensive and profound.

On the opening ceremony, the teachers and students of art troupe in HBU performed Chinese calligraphy, painting, martial arts, folklore and folk dance, and also sang the classic traditional Chinese folk songJasminetogether with students in university of Nouakchott. Their performance won rounds of applause.

Secretary Guo Jian, ambassador Zhang Jianguo, minister Salim and president Haoba jointly inaugurated the Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott, Mauritania. The distinguished guests of the two countries also visited the office and teaching area of the brand-new Confucius Institute.

The Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott is the first Confucius Institute set up in Mauritania. Relying on the platform of Confucius Institute, our school will work closely with university of Nouakchott through reinforcing educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, leading a new contribution to the "One Belt and Road" initiative and people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries.

The opening ceremony of Confucius Institute of university of Nouakchott had been reported by Mauritanian national channel one and two and the main Arabic newspaper, thePeople's Daily, which has a large circulation in the region.