On March 4, the Honorable Boutu Bateriki, Minister for Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kiribati, led a delegation to Ocean University of China. President Yu Zhigang and Vice President Liu Yong received the guests. Mr. Sun Tao, Deputy Director General of the Department of American & Oceanian Affairs of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Ms. Lin Bin, Vice Secretary-General of CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee and Mr. Zhang Peng, Chief of American and Oceanian Affairs Division of the Shandong Provincial Foreign Affairs Office attended the meeting.

After extending a warm welcome to the delegation, President Yu gave an overview OUC’s exchanges with Kiribati. He pointed out that OUC attaches great importance to the education of Kiribati students. Since 2019, OUC has accepted a total of 30 Kiribati students. In the future, the university will explore opportunities of cooperation with Kiribati, especially in talent cultivation and research in marine science and aquaculture, with an emphasis on marine spatial planning and marine resources development, in response to President Xi Jinping’s important instruction on building a closer community with a shared future with Pacific island countries. 

Minister Boutu Bateriki expressed his thanks to OUC for taking good care of the students and supporting their development. He communicated with student representatives to learn about their lives at OUC. He hoped that more students from Kiribati would be able to study at OUC and that the two sides would continue to engage in substantive cooperation in the years ahead. 

Home to one of the largest groups of Kiribati students in China, OUC will continue to provide these students with an enabling environment, contributing its effort to strengthening China-Kiribati friendship.