Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong on April 19 urged Confucius Institutes in Turkey to facilitate people-to-people exchanges and serve as bridge linking diverse cultures and civilizations.

Liu made a tour of the Confucius Institute at Bogazici University in Istanbul and had discussions with Turkey's Sinologists and teachers and students from the Confucius Institutes in Turkey.

She said it will have a far-reaching and lasting effect to deepen cultural exchanges and advance people-to-people bonds, as envisioned under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The initiative, put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims at developing cooperative partnerships with countries along and outside the routes of ancient Silk Road.

It also aims to build a community of shared interests, destiny and responsibility featuring mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness.

Liu urged to improve Chinese teaching and vocational training by adopting teaching methods more acceptable to local people and making the Confucius Institutes integrate more into Turkey for their sustainable development.

She called it a mission of Sinology research and Sinologists to relate to the world about China and advance mutual respect and understanding between various civilizations, thus contributing to the establishment of a cultural structure that will make the world more harmonious.

The Confucius Institute has been set up in more than 140 countries and regions in the world, with more than two million students of all kinds enrolled.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2017)