On April 8, the 2022 Board Meeting (online) of the Confucius Institute jointly established by Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (UKIM) was successfully held. The president Nikola Jankulovski of UKIM, vice president Biljana Angelova, vice president Valentina Gecevska, vice president Li Yongqiang of SWUFE and other board members attended the meeting.

Jankulovski expressed his sincere welcome and gratitude to all board members for attending this meeting. He introduced the achievements made by UKIM in digital construction, development of high-quality education, establishment of employment centers and platforms last year. The level of internationalization and modernization has been significantly improved. He thanked SWUFE for its strong support to the CI, and acknowledged the fruitful achievements of the CI in Chinese language teaching, cultural communication, government-industry cooperation in the past year. He highly praised the concerted efforts and hard work of all the staff of the CI. He emphasized that the development and management of the CI has become stable, and he hoped that the two universities will steadily promote cooperation and strengthen friendship in the future.

Li Yongqiang, on behalf of SWUFE, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to UKIM for their continued support, and acknowledged the achievements of the CI in the past year. He emphasized that the pandemic brought a huge impact on international exchanges. It is extraordinary for Chinese and foreign personnel to help each other and work together to successfully complete the annual tasks of the CI. He hoped that the CI will operate and develop steadily in the coming year. He said that the two institutes have established an unshakable nine-year solid foundation in cooperation. In the post-pandemic era, the two sides shall actively further strengthen disciplinary cooperation and academic exchanges in the advantageous disciplines of finance and economics through the bridge of Confucius Institute, which could influence the development of CI as well. By integrating various resources, the partnership between the two universities will continue to be strong and sustainable.

The board reached consensus and resolution after reviewing the Year 2021 Annual Report, the 2022 Work Plan, 2021 Final Accounts and 2022 Budget. The board also approved the re-appointment of the UKIM dean of CI.