On July 7th, during his official goodwill visit to Uzbekistan, Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), visited the Confucius Institute (CI) at Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies (TSUOS) and attended the opening ceremony of “Confucius Institute and Mutual Learning among Civilizations—20th Anniversary of the Confucius Institute” Seminar. In his speech, Zhao Leji emphasized the importance to strengthen language and culture exchanges and cooperation between China and the world, build bridges of friendship and strengthen ties among peoples.

Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng accompanied Zhao Leji to the events and delivered a keynote speech. Many Uzbek officials and guests were present at the seminar, including Tanzila Narbaeva, Chairperson of the Senate of Uzbekistan; Ulugbek Inoyatov, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of Uzbekistan; Kongratbay Sharipov, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation; and Gulchekhra Rikhsieva, Rector of TSUOS.

In her address, Chairperson Tanzila Narbaeva highly appreciated the achievements of the CI at TSUOS in areas such as Chinese language teaching and talent cultivation. She noted that for 20 years, the CI has always been a bridge for fostering friendship and promoting mutual understanding between China and Uzbekistan.

Established through a joint construction agreement signed on June 15th, 2004, the CI at TSUOS is the first Confucius Institute in the world to sign the agreement. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the CI, TSUOS, China’s Lanzhou University, and Chinese International Education Foundation jointly organized the Seminar. Over 260 people attended, including representatives from 13 CIs in Central Asian countries and more than 10 international Chinese language education programs, as well as representatives from companies.