On December 8, the main forum of the World Chinese Conference was successfully held at the China National Convention Center in Beijing. During the forum, the Center for Language Exchange and Cooperation of the Ministry of Education of China and the Language Center of the Ministry of Education of Iran signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Development of Chinese Education Projects in Iran.
Founded in 1925, the Language Center of the Ministry of Education of Iran is the earliest and largest language training institution in Iran, and currently has more than 270 sub-centers in more than 100 cities in 31 provinces across Iran, with more than 1 million students nationwide. The center provides instruction in Persian, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and other languages. Chinese is the eighth language of foreign language training offered by the center. In April 2023, the Supreme Council of Education of Iran passed a bill approving the entry of several foreign languages, including Chinese, into the Iranian national education system, and authorized the Iranian Ministry of Education, which is a specialized implementation agency for foreign language training under the Iranian Ministry of Education.
After the signing of the MoU, China and Iran will cooperate in the formulation of the overall plan for Chinese education, the establishment of Chinese education teachers, the research and development of Chinese teaching materials, the evaluation of Chinese education, the experience of Chinese culture and the academic seminar on Chinese teaching, which is a milestone event for Chinese education to further enter the classrooms of primary and secondary schools in Iran after the opening of Confucius Institutes in Iran.