Jiang Qingzhe, party chief of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), led a delegation to visit Greece and attended the annual European Confucius Institutes Joint Conference in Athens from May 19 to 22.

Hosted by the Business Confucius Institute in Athens, the two-day conference was attended by professor Giakoumakis Emmanouil, President of Athens Economics and Business University, Zhao Guocheng, deputy director of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL), Professor Jiang Qingzhe and representatives from 33 Confucius schools in 14 European countries.

In his speech at the conference, Jiang said Confucius institutes bridged mutual understanding between the people of China and Europe and played an essential role in beefing up cultural exchanges.

The UIBE delegation also visited the Business Confucius Institute in Athens. Cofounded by UIBE and Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) ten years ago, it is the only Confucius institute in Greece. Professor Jiang called for more efforts by the institute to promote the inclusion of Chinese programs into optional and credited college courses.

When visiting Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor Jiang met AUEB president Giakoumakis Emmanouil and hoped AUEB could offer more support to the Confucius Institute and expand cooperation in other fields. Professor Emmanouil extended his welcome to the UIBE delegation. He said AUEB attaches great importance to the development of the Confucius Institute and hoped to deepen exchanges between teachers and students of both sides.