BISSAU, March 27 (Xinhua) -- A renovation project for a school building at the Bafata campus of the China-Guinea-Bissau Friendship School was launched on Thursday in Guinea-Bissau's Bafata Region.
Funded by the Chinese Embassy in Guinea-Bissau, the project aims to improve teaching conditions and provide students with a safer and more conducive learning environment.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau Yang Renhuo said education is "the cornerstone of a country's development," noting that China has always attached great importance to educational exchanges and cooperation with Guinea-Bissau.
He said the school stands as "a concrete outcome of educational cooperation between the two countries" and "a vivid symbol of the traditional friendship" between China and Guinea-Bissau.
According to Yang, the renovation project will further enhance teaching conditions and provide "stronger support for students' growth and development."
Noting that this year marks the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, Yang encouraged students to contribute to national development, deepen their understanding of China and Chinese culture, and become "inheritors and promoters of the friendship" between the two nations.
Governor of Bafata Region Mustafa Cassama and Infamara Nanqui, headmaster of the Bafata campus, expressed gratitude to the Chinese side for its support in improving the school's infrastructure.
"The school bears witness to the profound friendship between our two peoples," Cassama said, expressing the hope that it will nurture more young people to carry forward the ties between Guinea-Bissau and China.
The Bafata campus of the China-Guinea-Bissau Friendship School was completed in 2009 and currently has 1,573 students. ■
