Group photo of Ambassador Liu Huanxing with Minister of Labour and Home Affairs

Botswana, August 19th—an opening ceremony for a Chinese training class, hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Botswana and arranged by the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana, was held at the embassy. The training was designed for officials of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (consisting of the Department of Labour, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, etc.). More than 70 people, including the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Peter Siele, the heads of the Departments of Labour, Immigration and Citizenship, Chinese Ambassador Liu Huanxing, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Botswana, Dean of the Confucius Institute as well as reporters from the national TV station and a number of newspapers were present at the occasion.

In his speech, Ambassador Liu first thanked the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs and the Confucius Institute for their efforts in preparing the training course. He pointed out that as people of the two countries become closer in their relations, the Chinese training for the labour and immigration officials would be helpful in their future work, and would also provide the officials with a platform to learn about Chinese culture.

Minister Siele stated that the training was a great beginning for exchange and communication between the Chinese diplomatic corps and Botswanan governmental departments. He thanked the the Chinese Embassy and the Confucius Institute for offering the training course, and stated his belief that the training would help to prevent many misunderstandings due to language barriers during their work, which will improve working efficiency and quality.

Frank Youngman, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Botswana stated that the Confucius Institute had sent their best teachers to ensure the training was successful and as such, participants should make full use of the opportunity to improve their Chinese level and learn about Chinese culture, in order to provide better service to local Chinese.

The training lasted 3 months and lectures were given twice a week by Chinese teachers from the Confucius Institute. Over 20 trainees participated in the course. To guarantee the teaching quality, the institute chose their best teachers and compiled practical teaching materials according to the actual needs of the trainees.