The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Governor General’s wife Lady Joan Foulkes met with Chinese officials in Beijing yesterday and urged Bahamians studying there to learn languages in an effort to gain a competitive edge.

Lady Foulkes and a Bahamian delegation are in China participating in a culture seminar, their main focus being the Hanban Confucius Institute at the College of the Bahamas.

The Confucius Institute (CI) began as a classroom several years ago and later became apart of the CI worldwide network, headquartered in Beijing.

So far, more than 100 students are taking part in the programme with several of them receiving scholarships from the Chinese government and the Hanban CI.

Director of COB’s Confucius Institute Zhou Youhua said although the programme is developing well, there is still a need for more support.

“We would like more and more Bahamian students to learn Chinese,” Mr Youhua said, “and we will try our best to help them improve their Chinese levels. There is no doubt that programmes such as this one will also help strengthen ties between the two countries and the relationship between both institutions”