The CIUC successfully held Annual Board Meeting 2022

The Confucius Institute at the University of Colombo (CIUC) successfully held its Annual Board Meeting via zoom on December 23, 2022. Senior Prof. H.D. Karunarathne, Vice – Chancellor of the University of Colombo (UoC), Prof. Zhao Gang, Vice President of the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), Prof. Zhang Yongjie, Vice President of Honghe University (HU), and Senior Prof. Lasantha Manawadu, Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the UoC attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Prof. Ma Zhongwu, Chinese Director of Confucius Institute, Prof. Ven. Uduhawara Ananda, Acting Sri Lankan Director of Confucius Institute, and all the board members of the CIUC and other attendants participated in the meeting.

At the meeting, Senior Prof. H.D. Karunarathna, Prof. Zhao Gang, and Prof. Zhang Yongjie expressed their recognition and appreciation to the CIUC for persisting in its work in 2022 and completing all the tasks set in spite of the COVID-19 epidemic and the changing social and economic situation in Sri Lanka. They particularly mentioned several important works accomplished by the CIUC, such as the “Belt and Road Initiative”: High-end Forum and “China in my eye” Primary and Secondary School Student’s Painting Competition to Celebrate 65th Anniversary of China-Sri Lanka Diplomatic Relations, the publication of the Colombo Journal for Chinese Studies and the Sinhala translation project of Chinese classical works. The three partner universities of the CIUC all expressed that they would work closely together in 2023 to promote the full development of the CIUC and facilitate cultural and educational exchanges between China and Sri Lanka.

All board members reviewed the 2022 work report and 2022 financial cost report of the CIUC, and the 2023 work plan and 2023 Financial budget of the CIUC. All board members comprehensively summarized the achievements and shortcomings of the CIUC in the past year and the development ideas of the CIUC in the next year. Finally, the board members of the three universities had a profound discussion and reached an agreement on how to better run and develop the CIUC in 2023.

The year 2022 is the sixth year of the establishment of the CIUC, and the development of the CIUC cannot be achieved without the joint efforts of the CIUC staff and the continuous support of the three partner universities. We expect that the joint efforts of the three partner universities will create a wider scope of cooperation in the future and give a strong impetus to the overall development of the CIUC in the coming year.