Follow Vanuatu immigration and Vanuatu news: On December 5, 2013, Ambassador Xie Bohua of Vanuatu and his wife met at the official residence with the Minister of Education of Vanuatu, Rafman, the Chairman of the Board of the University of the South Pacific, Janif, and the Vice-Chancellor, Chandra. Both parties exchanged views on cooperation in the education sector between China and Vanuatu and discussed strengthening academic and faculty exchanges with the French campus of the University of the South Pacific.
Ambassador Xie and his wife with guests
Ambassador Xie stated that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to cooperation between China and Vanuatu in the education sector. At the second China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development Cooperation Forum held in November this year, Vice Premier Wang Yang, on behalf of the Chinese government, announced a series of new measures to support the economic and social development of Pacific island countries, with educational cooperation being an important part. The Chinese side has committed to providing 2,000 scholarship places to island countries over the next four years, continuing to assist in the construction of primary and secondary schools, and offering Chinese language teaching assistance. Rafman expressed gratitude for the selfless help from the Chinese side over the years and stated his willingness to strengthen communication with the Chinese side to jointly promote the implementation of these measures in Vanuatu.
Janif stated that he came specifically from Fiji to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese-funded French campus of the University of the South Pacific. He was genuinely pleased to see the newly built classrooms, teacher offices, and laboratories. The operation of the French campus of the University of the South Pacific will greatly enhance the school's enrollment capacity, create favorable conditions for French language teaching, and strengthen faculty training, thereby better promoting the education sector in the South Pacific region. He hopes to carry out more cooperation with the Chinese side in academic exchange and Chinese language teaching in the future. Ambassador Xie expressed a willingness to actively consider the university's suggestions.