On December 4th, the 13th Global Confucius Institute Conference was held in Chengdu. Sun Chunlan, Vice Premier of the State Council and President of the Headquarters Council of Confucius Institute, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. The conference was chaired by Chen Baosheng, Minister of Education and Vice President of the Headquarters Council of Confucius Institute. Zhang Wenxin, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee of SNUD together with the president of Woosuk University of South Korea, Vice President of Para State University, and the Chinese and foreign directors of four Confucius Institutes as well as the director of the International Exchange and Cooperation Office of SDNU attended the conference.

More than 1500 delegates from 154 countries and regions participated in the conference. In his speech, Sun Chunlan pointed out that the Chinese government has always encouraged cross-cultural exchanges and actively supported Sino-foreign cooperation in running Confucius Institutes. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that Confucius Institute belongs to China and the world as a window and bridge for the exchange of languages and cultures between China and foreign countries. With the joint efforts of both China and foreign countries,Confucius Instituteshave steadily improved the quality of education, has been increasingly active in cultural exchanges. They have made positive contributions to meeting the needs of Chinese language learning and serving economic and trade cooperation among the people of various countries. Sun Chunlan proposed that Confucius Institute should innovate teaching methods, strengthen the construction of teachers, improve the quality evaluation system, and build an authoritative platform for Chinese teaching, carry out rich and colorful cultural activities, give full play to the role of Sinologists as cultural messengers, and cultivate a comprehensive platform for cultural exchanges. Confucius Institutes will implement the "Chinese+" project, should set up special courses such as skills, business and traditional Chinese medicine, and establish a practical and cooperative support platform according to local conditions, and make contributions to deepening friendship between China and foreign countries and building a community of human destiny.