BLCU News, June 10 – Recently, to further deepen China-Latin America educational cooperation and cultural exchanges, President Duan Peng led a delegation to visit Guyana and Cuba. The delegation visited cooperative institutions such as Guyana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, University of Guyana, University of Havana in Cuba, and Cuba's Ministry of Higher Education. President Duan Peng was cordially received by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba, and attended the Second International Scientific Congress at the University of Havana
Accompanied by Counselor Li Hanqing and Commercial Counselor Sun Jialu from the Chinese Embassy in Guyana, President Duan Peng and the delegation held friendly talks with Guyana's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Persaud. President Duan expressed gratitude for the deputy minister's warm reception and introduced BLCU as a key university directly under the Chinese Ministry of Education, dedicated to China-foreign cultural exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. It serves as an important base for cultivating international talent who understand and befriend China and is the university in China with the most international students. Since its founding, BLCU has trained nearly 300,000 international students proficient in Chinese and familiar with Chinese culture from 189 countries and regions, including 80 dignitaries at the deputy prime minister level or above, as well as 300 foreign ambassadors, such as the current Guyanese Ambassador to China Anyin Choo. BLCU will fully leverage its strengths in Chinese education and cultural dissemination to attract more Guyanese students to study in China, cultivating professional talent for friendly exchanges between China and Guyana. President Duan also highlighted that BLCU has three overseas branches, campuses in Xiong'an and Hainan, and the Peace Garden on the main campus features statues donated by heads of state from various countries, serving as a microcosm of different national cultures and a witness to friendships. He hopes that in the future, statues of cultural figures from Guyana and the Caribbean region can be added to the Peace Garden, allowing more faculty and students to appreciate the charm of Guyanese culture and enhancing cultural exchanges and mutual trust between China and Guyana.
Deputy Minister Robert Persaud warmly welcomed President Duan Peng and his delegation, recalling his visit to China many years ago and marveling at China's tremendous changes in recent years, particularly in education. He emphasized that Guyana highly values its partnership with China and will continue to vigorously promote China-Guyana educational cooperation, fostering friendly exchanges and cooperation between BLCU and Guyanese universities. This will enable more Guyanese students to personally experience and understand China, cultivating core forces for future China-Guyana friendship.
The delegation subsequently visited the University of Guyana, where President Duan Peng held in-depth discussions with University of Guyana President Paloma Mohamed-Martin, as well as the Chinese and Guyanese deans of the Confucius Institute at the University of Guyana. President Duan shared BLCU's achievements and experiences in international Chinese education and regional and country studies. President Paloma warmly welcomed President Duan Peng's delegation, and both sides reached consensus on continuing substantive cooperation. They will jointly promote two-way faculty and student exchanges, conduct joint teaching and research, regularly host academic lectures and workshops, expand student joint cultivation plans, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in more fields.
During the visit, President Duan Peng led the delegation to call on Chinese Ambassador to Guyana Yang Yang, reporting on BLCU's educational situation and cooperation development plans with Guyanese educational institutions. Ambassador Yang stated that the embassy will provide strong support for BLCU's Chinese education and cultural exchanges in Guyana, as well as the mutual establishment of research institutes.
On May 26, President Duan Peng led the delegation to visit Cuba. During the visit, President Duan was invited to deliver a keynote speech titled *Language, Innovation, Integration: Jointly Composing a New Chapter in Sustainable Development* at the opening ceremony of Cuba's Second International Congress on "Higher Education, Society, and Development." He comprehensively elaborated on the important role of language, culture, and technological innovation in promoting global sustainable development. He emphasized that BLCU has always adhered to the philosophy of "language as bridge, culture as medium, science as wing," committed to promoting multidisciplinary integration and international exchanges through education and research, contributing to building a community of shared future for mankind. President Duan shared BLCU's recent practical achievements and explorations in internationalized education, interdisciplinary studies, and talent cultivation. He particularly mentioned that BLCU will continue to play a leading role in the integration of artificial intelligence and language education, leveraging digital technology to drive reform and innovation in Chinese education. Looking ahead, he proposed deepening cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean through the bridging role of the Belt and Road Initiative, jointly applying for international research funds, exploring multi-country collaborative innovation models, promoting cross-border collaboration in sustainable development research, facilitating the sharing and application of scientific research results, building a new pattern for China-Latin America educational cooperation, and injecting new momentum into the construction of a community of shared future for mankind. Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba, attended the opening ceremony and received the BLCU delegation representatives.
President Duan Peng also held talks with Miriam Nicado, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Member of the Council of State, and President of the University of Havana. President Miriam Nicado, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, warmly welcomed President Duan Peng and his delegation. She highly praised the significance of President Duan's two visits to Cuba and the University of Havana within a year and a half, believing it not only demonstrates BLCU's high emphasis on educational cooperation in Latin America but also highlights the long-term friendly cooperation between the two countries. President Duan introduced a series of recent construction achievements at BLCU, particularly innovative practices in the Xiong'an Campus, Kazakhstan Branch, and Hainan Campus, exchanging views with President Miriam Nicado on how these experiences can provide references for China-Cuba educational cooperation. Both sides agreed to jointly advance specific cooperation in high-level talent cultivation, multidisciplinary construction, and transnational course management, reaching broad consensus on future cooperation frameworks.
The delegation also heard work reports from the Confucius Institute at the University of Havana. President Duan fully affirmed the institute's achievements in Chinese teaching, cultural dissemination, and Chinese examination system construction. He pointed out that in the future, the Confucius Institute should further strengthen regional characteristics, enhance the cultivation of localized Chinese education talent, while focusing on teaching model innovation and resource development, better integrating Chinese education into local cultural and social development needs, providing stronger support for China-Cuba cultural exchanges and cooperation.
In talks with Cuba's First Vice Minister of Higher Education Modesto Gómez Crespo, both sides engaged in in-depth exchanges on deepening educational cooperation between the two countries. Vice Minister Modesto Gómez Crespo stated that during the Moscow meeting between Cuban leader Díaz-Canel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, both sides clearly proposed strengthening cooperation in education, technology, and other fields to further consolidate the partnership. President Duan's delegation attending the International Scientific Congress is an important measure to implement the consensus of the two leaders. Both sides systematically discussed cooperation projects such as the donation of statues to BLCU's Peace Garden by Cuban leaders, the Cuban cadre training program at BLCU's Hainan Campus, the cultivation of Cuban Chinese seed teachers, and the mutual establishment of research institutes between BLCU and the University of Havana. Both sides agreed that the smooth implementation of these projects will provide strong support for bilateral educational cooperation, not only helping to promote high-level talent cultivation but also further advancing cultural exchanges and technological innovation between the two countries, enhancing the depth and breadth of bilateral cooperation.
This visit marks a higher level in BLCU's educational cooperation with Cuba, building a more solid platform for China-Latin America educational and technological exchanges. BLCU will take this visit as an opportunity to collaborate with universities and research institutions in Cuba and Latin America, jointly exploring new models for deep integration of education, technology, and culture, contributing more innovative practices and cooperation experiences to global educational development, and providing more Chinese wisdom for achieving the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Editor: Lü Meining
Reviewer: Chen Siyu
