Official Opening Ceremony of the Confucius Institute at Slovak University of Technology was Held

Co-established by Tianjin University (TU) and Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU), the Confucius Institute at Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (CISTU), the first in Slovak Republic, had its grand opening ceremony held on May 17, 2007. Ms. Wuyun Qimuge, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Chinese NPC was present and addressed at the ceremony. She hoped the founding of the CISTU will bring Chinese culture and language to Slovak, and the CISTU will become a bridge for the friendship and understanding between the peoples in both countries. She presented the samples of the 3000 volumes of gift books from Chinese Language Council International to CISTU. Ms. Anna Belousovova, Vice Chairperson of the National Council of the Slovak Republic was also present and commented very positively on the founding of CISTU on behalf of the Slovak Republic. President Gong Ke of TU expected in his remarks that the CISTU will bring both universities and the peoples together by means of various activities related to Chinese language and culture that caters for the need of both Slovak and Chinese peoples, communities and various sectors of the societies. He firmly believed that the founding of the CISTU will be mutually beneficial to both universities and countries. Ms. Liu Yuanyuan, Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Slovakia Republic, read the congratulation letter from Xu Lin, Director of the Office of Chinese Language Council International. Vice Rector D. Petras also gave his warm congratulations to CISTU at the ceremony on behalf of STU. Mr. Huang Zhongpo, the Chinese Ambassador, also joined the event. The grand opening ceremony of CISTU attracted a lot of attention in both STU and Bratislava. Representatives from the European Parliament, local businesses, faculties and students of STU, and even local communities joined the ceremony. Both Chinese and Slovak news agencies in Bratislava sent their agents to the ceremony. Before the official opening of CISTU, the first meeting of the Board of Trustees of CISTU was held on May 16 in which Mr. Peter Paulen, the former Ambassador of Slovakia in P. R. China, was designated by the board members as the Director of CISTU. According to the decision of the meeting, the second board meeting will be held in October in Tianjin.