On August 22, the Chinese Embassy in the Solomon Islands held a reception to bid farewell to the recipients of the 2024/2025 Academic Year Chinese Scholarship. The reception was attended by more than 30 guests, including the Minister for Education and Human Resources Development, Hon. Tozen Leokana; the Solomon Islands Ambassador to China, H.E. Barrett Salato; and the Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in the Solomon Islands, Mr. Ding Yonghua, as well as the 2024 recipients of the Chinese Government Scholarship and the Provincial Government Scholarship.

Chargé d’Affaires Ding Yonghua extended warm congratulations to the students and encouraged them to make full use of this opportunity to experience the achievements of Chinese modernization and high-quality development and gain knowledge to broaden horizons and make further contributions to SI’s development and China-SI friendship and cooperation.

He also highlighted the significance of educational cooperation in bilateral relations. “Over the past 5 years, China has sponsored hundreds of government officials and professionals for training in China and provided scholarships for around 160 young students to further study in China, which helped SI cultivate a large number of talents, and enhance SI’s ability to develop independently. Last month, accompanying PM Manele’s visit to China, Hon. Minister Leokana signed the renewed MOU on education cooperation with his Chinese counterpart. According to the MOU, the Chinese government will provide 30 new scholarships every year for the next 5 years, and this also laid a solid foundation for our future cooperation in the fields of student exchanges, inter-school cooperation, language education, and short-term training”.

Hon. Tozen Leokana, representing the GNUT government, thanked the Chinese Government for providing scholarships and emphasized the importance of scholarships and people-to-people exchanges. “People-to-people exchange is an important means of deepening the understanding and friendship between our two peoples. Since 2019 when our country formalized its diplomatic relationship with PRC, Solomon Islands has benefited hugely from PRC scholarships.” He also called all students to be good ambassadors of Solomon Islands and make use of the scholarship, embracing the Chinese culture and respecting the laws and customs.

H.E. Ambassador Barrett Salato and one of the student representatives, Francis Tony, also shared their views on life in China.

In the coming days, the students will embark on their journey to China.

-Chinese Embassy in Solomon Islands Media