On November 8, Ambassador Du Xiaohui met with Douglas Syakalima, Minister of Education. The two sides exchanged views on education cooperation and other issues. The Permanent Secretary Mr. Joel Kamoko was present.
Ambassador Du introduced the historic significance of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the main spirit of the Congress Report, focusing on the fifth part of the report, "Invigorating China through science and education and developing a strong workforce for the modernization drive".
Ambassador Du said that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has provided more development opportunities for the world and will benefit people of all countries, especially developing countries. For the first time, the Report has a separate chapter on science and education in a prominent position, bringing new opportunities for China-Zambia educational cooperation. China ranks first in terms of providing overseas scholarships for Zambia and has been conducting various educational cooperation projects with Zambian government over the years to train much-needed talents in various fields, which injects energy to Zambia’s development. The Chinese Embassy in Zambia will continue to promote educational exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, facilitate people-to-people exchanges and contribute to the consolidation of China-Zambia traditional friendship.
Minister Syakalima said that the Zambian side expresses sincere admiration for the tremendous development achievements made by the Chinese people. The economic miracle since the reform and opening-up policy could not have been achieved without China's huge investment in human resources. China's most important asset is its large, highly educated population. Zambia is fully aware of the importance of education, science and technology to national development and thanks China for its valuable support in personnel training, skills training and academic exchanges, and is willing to deepen cooperation with China in education.