（Chinese language in the world）
About 200 delegates attended here on Sunday the first joint conference of Confucius Institutes(CIs) in Europe to share experience in promoting Chinese teaching and Chinese learning in each country and outline long-term plan for the development of CIs around the world.
    The three-day conference was sponsored by the Confucius Institute Headquarters and organized by Group T International University College Leuven. The delegates came from 66 CIs in 20 European countries and a dozen of Chinese universities.
    At the opening ceremony of the conference, Xu Lin, chief executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, stressed the importance of Confucius Institutes in popularizing the teaching and Chinese learning and promoting understanding of the Chinese culture by the rest of the world.
She asked the delegates to outline the long term development of CIs around the world and discuss ways on how to strengthen the training of local Chinese teachers, develop Chinese teaching materials, and serve their communities.
    Zhang Yuanyuan, the Chinese ambassador to Belgium who also attended the opening ceremony, said he hoped that "Confucius Institutes in Europe will take full advantage of the continent's fertile soil of culture and human development and turn their Chinese language schools into successful examples of education cooperation and inter-civilization dialogue."
To date, 282 CIs and 114 Confucius classes have been established around the world. The nonprofit institute, named after China's ancient philosopher Confucius, was first established in 2004 to help non-native speakers learn Chinese.