Dr. Joseph Ndinoshiho, University Librarian of UNAM,

Dr. Liu Dianbo, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at UNAM,

Dear principals,

Friends from the media,

Distinguished guests,

Dear teachers and students,

    Good morning!

It’s my great honor to welcome all of you to attend this event of the Celebration of the 2023 International Chinese Language Day and the “Chinese Bridge” Chinese-Proficiency Competition for University and Secondary School Students of Namibia, which is hosted by the Chinese Embassy in partnership with the University of Namibia and the Confucius Institute at UNAM.

This event has got strong support of the University of Namibia. I wish to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Joseph Ndinoshiho, representative of UNAM for his warm friendship of being with us and delivering us a very wonderful speech on behalf of Vice Chancellor Gideon.

I also want to express my sincere thanks to the Principals of Ella Du Plessis High School, A. Shipena Secondary School, Amazing Kids Private School, Highline Secondary School, People’s Primary School, and Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School for their kind support.

Especially, I wish to congratulate all the students who will participate in the competition today. In my view, all of you are already winners in Chinese language study. I admire you because it’s indeed not an easy achievement. I also want to congratulate UNAM, and relevant schools for producing such excellent Chinese language students.

The purpose for the UN to establish the Chinese language Day is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization and April 20 was chosen as the date to pay tribute to Cangjie, a mythical figure who is presumed to have invented Chinese characters about 5,000 years ago.

Over the years, much richer meaning has been given to the celebration of the International Chinese Language Day. In addition to celebrating multilingualism and cultural diversity, we also promote cultural exchanges and friendship among nations. Just like other languages, the Chinese language doesn’t belong to the Chinese only. In a globalized world, there is an ever-increasing need for people of different countries to talk to each other, to learn from each other and to work and cooperate with each other. Therefore, China has not only been promoting Chinese language overseas, but also consistently encouraged its own citizens to study foreign languages.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, “Learning each other’s language and understanding each other’s history and culture will help promote mutual understanding between the two peoples and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.”

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education in China, by the end of 2020, more than 180 countries have launched Chinese language education programs, over 70 countries have included the Chinese language in their national education systems and more than 20 million people outside China were studying Chinese. This has greatly enhanced mutual understanding between different civilizations and people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries.

We are also very happy to note that with the fast development of the Chinese economy, the Chinese language has become one of the important tools of communication for the international business engagement. And the mastery of the Chinese language will provide learners in many parts of the world with more opportunities of employment. I hope more Chinese language learners will find jobs in the Chinese companies and organizations in China and around the world.

Thanks to the support of the Namibian government and relevant education institutions like those you are representing today, and to the consistent efforts of the teachers in various universities and schools, and to the diligent work of the Confucius Institute at UNAM, Chinese language learning has developed rapidly in Namibia, which has and will continue to contribute to the friendship of our two peoples and development of bilateral relations between our two countries. I hope and believe that China-Namibia cooperation in the area of education will further deepen in the years to come, and the Chinese Embassy will work together with all of you in this regard.

 I’m looking forward to the excellent performance of all the contestants. I would not be surprised if you speak Chinese better than I do.

      In conclusion, I thank all the distinguished guests again for your support. And I wish the competition a great success.