The 12th global Confucius Institute Conference was held in Xi 'an on December 12. Liu Yandong, vice premier of the state council, chairman of the council of Confucius Institute headquarters, attended the conference and addressed. With the theme of cooperation and innovation and building a human community with a shared future, the conference was attended by nearly 2,500 university presidents and representatives of Confucius Institutes from more than 140 countries and regions. Vice president Zhou Kechao attended the meeting on behalf of the school.

At the conference, Liu Yandong delivered a keynote speech and awarded an inaugural medal to the newly-established Confucius Institutes, including the Confucius Institute co-established by Central South University and the Foreign Affairs Institute of the Diplomatic University of DRC. Professor Dede Birhonga Ndemba, president of the University of Diplomatic University of DRC, attended the awarding ceremony.

On April 15, president Dede Birhonga Ndemba visited CSU at our invitation. Vice president Zhou Kechao met with president Dede Birhonga Ndemba and his delegation. The two sides pledged to make concerted efforts to promote the construction of the Confucius Institute, promote cultural and academic exchanges and develop the friendship between the two peoples. During the visit, president Dede Birhonga Ndemba and his delegation visited the new campus and Xiangya hospital, and went on academic exchanges with teachers and students fromthe French department of the School of Foreign Languages.

It is reported that in the 13 years since its establishment, especially in the past five years, Confucius Institutes have made a positive contribution to enhancing the friendship between China and the rest of the world and promoting exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. So far, 525 Confucius Institutes and 1,113 Confucius Classrooms have been set up in 146 countries and regions, with a total of 9.16 million students. The future development of Confucius Institutes will be based on language exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. We will strive to become the bridge of friendship among countries and a promoter of win-win cooperation. Through optimizing the distribution, improving the level of running schools, deepening the reform of teachers, teaching materials and teaching methods, strengthening the training of local teachers, and providing services for the diversified and localized needs of various countries, we will leverage the strengths of China and the rest of the world to build a brand of people-to-people exchanges that is inclusive, making new contributions to building a human community with a shared future.