On December 21, WANG Liming, Vice President of Renmin University of China, met with Patricia Rodríguez Holkemeyer, the visiting Costa Rican Ambassador to China. Accompanying the ambassador and also visiting was Foreign Affairs Dean to the the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica, Lai Sai Acón Chan.

WANG Liming first welcomed the visit of Patricia Rodríguez Holkemeyer and Lai Sai Acón Chan, and reviewed the long-standing multi-faceted cooperation between Renmin University of China and University of Costa Rica and affirmed the achievements of the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica and study exchange programs between teachers and students at the University of Costa Rica. Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica will mark the tenth anniversary of its founding in 2018. WANG Liming introduced the achievements made by the National Research Center for Latin American Studies in recent years on issues such as research, publications, and exchange of scholars. At the same time, he introduced the development of the Spanish Department at the Foreign Languages Institute. He expressed the hope that in the future, he will continue to deepen cooperation with the University of Costa Rica to jointly establish the Latin American Studies Center and the Spanish Department of the Foreign Languages Institute and renew the cooperation agreement for the establishment of Confucius Institutes. He also welcomes visits by all Chinese scholars from Costa Rica to Renmin University of China .

Patricia Rodríguez Holkemeyer thanked RUC for the warm welcome, and expressed that Costa Rice greatly values the many international exchange cooperation programs that RUC has established with China’s many higher education institutes.

Holkemeyer expressed her thanks to Renmin University of China and underlined that Costa Rica has always attached great importance to all international exchanges and cooperation projects with universities in China, especially Renmin University of China, as well as promoting political, economic and other cooperation in various fields through language teaching and promotion. She shared that she had attended the short winter course of the School of International Relations at RUC. Also, Professor SONG Li-fang from the School of Economics instructed and published highly acclaimed papers in major domestic journals in Costa Rica. In 2007, she was the main speaker for Sino-Colombian economic cooperation at the School of Economics Lecture, and also came to China on the eve of the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica, and felt that she was destined to come to China and to RUC. She congratulated RUC on its 80th anniversary and thanked China for inviting Latin American countries to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and is ready to work together toward a world of mutual understanding and respect.

Lai Sai Acón Chan thanked Renmin University of China for its support in the work of Confucius Institute at Costa Rica for the past decade. In 2019, the University of Costa Rica will soon establish a Department of Chinese Studies and Sinology Studies. Chan hopes to deepen cooperation with Renmin University of China and hopes that Chinese education will increasingly improve at the University of Costa Rica and even throughout the country.

The Republic of Costa Rica, located in southern Central America, established diplomatic relations with China on June 1, 2007 and incumbent President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera graduated from the Department of History at the University of Costa Rica. He taught at the University of Costa Rica and other colleges and universities for more than 30 years. In January 2015, he studied his doctorate degree at RUC, and received an honorary doctorate degree and was employed by Renmin University of China’s Latin American Research Center as an Honorary Adviser. Costa Rica attaches importance to education and compulsory education in primary and secondary schools. The education level ranks the forefront of Latin American countries with an adult literacy rate as high as 96%. The University of Costa Rica is one of the largest and most important higher education institutions in Costa Rica. On August 7, 2009, the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica officially opened its doors to become the first Confucius Institute in Central America to promote Chinese teaching and promote Chinese culture while promoting academic cooperation and cultural exchanges between universities in China and Colombia. Since the formal opening of the Chinese course at the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica in March 2010, there has been a rapid increase in the number of disciplines and a large number of distinctive cultural courses and cultural activities have taken place, which have had a positive impact on the academic community and society. With the support of the Hanban, Renmin University of China and the University of Costa Rica, the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica has become the center of Chinese teaching and promotion of Chinese culture in Costa Rica.