The 2015 Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in Europe and theInaugural Ceremony of the Model Confucius Institute at SofiaUniversity were held in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital on 6-9 September.Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev sent a congratulatory letterto the official inauguration of the new teaching building for theConfucius Institute at Sofia University. Nearly 300 representativesfrom China and Bulgaria attended the opening ceremony, includingMrs. Xu Lin, Director General of Hanban and Chief Executive ofConfucius Institute Headquarters; Mr. Wei Jinghua, ChineseAmbassador to Bulgaria; and directors of Confucius Institutes inEurope. SUIBE Vice President Chen Jie and leaders of severalprestigious Chinese universities were also invited to the event.
Mrs. Xu Lin and Mr. Ivan Ilchev, Rector of Sophia University,addressed the conference, which was presided by Mr. Ma Jianfei,Vice Director General of Hanban and Deputy Chief Executive ofConfucius Institute Headquarters.
The conference was divided into four group sessions, discussingtopics ranging from the role of Confucius Institutes in China’s“One Belt, One Road” Initiative, the sustainable development ofConfucius Institutes, approaches to upgrading the performance ofConfucius Institutes, qualifications of teachers at ConfuciusInstitutes and the training of local teachers, the impact ofConfucius Institutes on bilateral trade, and the establishment ofConfucius Institute Alumni Association. SUIBE Vice President Chenmoderated the second group session attended by 26 delegates from 13Confucius Institutes in Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Slovenia, Hungry,Sweden, Slovakia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, Macedonia, andSerbia.
SUIBE has, so far, set up three Confucius Institutes and fourConfucius Classrooms in Central and Eastern Europe, the largestnumber of Chinese language and culture teaching bodies eversponsored by a Chinese university in the region.