Uzbek Director Nosirova Soadat Abdullaevna of Confucius Institute in Tashkent:
May SCO Qingdao Summit Have Profound Impact on World

In recent years, under the guidance of the "Shanghai Spirit," the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has gradually shifted from a "two-wheel drive" of security and economic cooperation to a comprehensive cooperation mechanism that emphasizes safety, economy and humanities. Nosirova Soadat Abdullaevna, the Uzbek Director of the Confucius Institute in Tashkent of Uzbekistan, has been personally connected with the SCO’s achievements in the humanities field.

In 2016, when President Xi Jinping visited Uzbekistan and attended the Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO, Peng Liyuan, the First Lady of China, and her Uzbek counterpart Tatyana Karimova visited the Confucius Institute in Tashkent. When looking back on their meeting, Nosirova is still very excited and proud. Since its establishment 12 years ago, the Confucius Institute located in the downtown of Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, has become one of the largest international education and cultural centers of the country where more than 800 students have been learning Chinese. She said, “Our students are from over 20 different ethnic groups, among which the youngest learner is only 7 years old and the oldest 70. They all have great passion for Chinese and Chinese culture. Most graduates of the Confucius Institute passed the qualifying examination and entered colleges and universities in Uzbekistan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Europe.”

As a participator and front-line practitioner of cooperation in people-to-people and cultural engagement of the SCO and between China and Uzbekistan, Nosirova expressed, “Since its establishment, the SCO has done a lot of work in science, education, culture, and people-to-people and cultural cooperation. I believe the Qingdao Summit will map out a medium-term "road map" for people-to-people and cultural cooperation. I’m looking forward to it. The Confucius Institute in Tashkent will continue to work with the Confucius Institute at Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages to make further contributions to the SCO’s people-to-people and cultural cooperation and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields between Uzbekistan and China.”

Nosirova believes that the summit held in Shandong, hometown of the great Chinese thinker Confucius, will open a new chapter for the development of the SCO. At the same time, all parties will also witness the fruitful results achieved by China as the rotating presidency over the past year. She believes the outcomes of this summit will not only play a leading role in the development of the SCO, but also have a profound impact on the global political and economic situation.

She is also full of confidence in the prospects for the development of China-Uzbekistan relations. China-Uzbekistan economic and trade relations are developing rapidly. In 2018, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries is expected to exceed 5 billion US dollars. She said, “The most solid foundation for the development prospects of China-Uzbekistan relations lies in the long-standing friendship between the two peoples and the mutual trust between the leaders of the two countries. It also comes from the economic complementarities of the two countries and their unremitting pursuits for improvement of people's well-being.”

(Economic Daily, June 8, 2018, Page 5, Li Yaoyuan)

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