Interview: Education cooperation with China empowers Djiboutian youths: official

DJIBOUTI CITY, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation with China in the field of education is setting a solid foundation for Djibouti's economic and social development, a senior Djibouti government official has said.

Speaking to Xinhua in a recent interview, Moustapha Mohamed Mahamoud, Minister of National Education and Vocational Training of Djibouti, said China and Djibouti enjoy "strong and very good" collaboration across a range of development sectors.

Mahamoud, in particular, underscored the importance of the ever-growing partnership between the two countries in the field of education, which he said is enabling the Red Sea nation's youths to harness their potential toward the country's socio-economic development.

"We have a strong and very good collaboration between China and Djibouti...China is one of the countries that support the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training a lot in terms of education," Mahamoud told Xinhua.

The minister stressed that China has already supported Djibouti with the construction of several academic institutions, with a particular emphasis on creating centers of excellence. According to him, one such center of excellence is the Luban Workshop in Djibouti.

"As part of our cooperation with China in the education sector, some three years ago we saw the realization of the Luban Workshop, which is the first in Africa," Mahamoud said.

The Luban Workshop in Djibouti was launched back in March 2019 as the first of its kind in the African continent with an aim to provide quality vocational training to local people, the country's youth in particular.

"We have a lot of students who came through the Luban Workshop. The center is equipped with very modern equipment in different sectors, incorporating technologies in the transport, logistics and other areas," the minister said.

"We had the first graduates of professional railway licensed youth with better skills," Mahamoud said. "The best skills they obtained from the center is setting the solid foundation for our economic and social development."

The minister also emphasized the importance of further cementing the Sino-Djibouti cooperation in the education sector.

In this regard, he acknowledged the role of the recently inaugurated Confucius Institute in Djibouti as a valuable impetus for boosting the ever-expanding relations between the two countries in the education sector and beyond.

On Thursday, the Confucius Institute in Djibouti was inaugurated in Djibouti city, the country's capital, with stakeholders pledging to make the institute an important platform for China-Djibouti cooperation.

The minister said the institute will play an important role as economic cooperation and people-to-people relations depend on language.

He underscored that learning and mastering the Chinese language will open a wider window of opportunities for Djiboutian youth, and will enable them to acquire further education and training opportunities.

"Students from different schools are now learning the Chinese language here at home in Djibouti through this institute. I am sure this opportunity will allow them to apply to big Chinese universities. Certainly, we will have students who will come out of the best Chinese universities and return here to participate in our development endeavors," he said.

"Due to its geographical position, Djibouti has always been a land of exchange, communications and meetings among people; and this makes the institute even more important," he said. "This tradition of exchanges and meetings in Djibouti also makes the Confucius Institute in Djibouti the best platform that could represent a land of exchange and meeting.