The 2023 Asia-Europe International Teacher Education Forum was held on Monday at Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, Gansu province.

The forum aimed to foster mutual understanding and bolster interschool collaboration in teacher education between China and other countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Serving as a high-level dialogue platform, the forum included discussions to facilitate the high-quality development of BRI and to devise strategies for bolstering the internationalization of higher education in the next phase.

Jia Peng, deputy director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education, said in his keynote address at the forum that education is an integral part of the joint construction of the BRI.

Over the years, his department has been strengthening overall planning, focusing on talent cultivation, continuously promoting the prosperous development of people-to-people exchanges, and encouraging Chinese education to step onto the world stage with greater confidence and initiative, Jia said.

The depth of international production, education, research, and application cooperation oriented toward the "Belt and Road" continues to increase, he added.

Zhang Guozhen, director of the Gansu Provincial Department of Education, highlighted the importance of opening up and inclusiveness in education cooperation to achieve mutual benefits.

All parties should join together to innovate the international cooperation system and cultivate well-rounded talents. This effort, he argued, would contribute to the prosperity of their respective countries and the prosperity of regions under the BRI.

In the forum, guests also delivered speeches around the high-standard opening up of Gansu education and exchanged ideas on international talent cultivation and cooperation to promote teacher professional development.

Wang Zhanren, president of Northwest Normal University, signed a student exchange program agreement with Alexander Ivanovich Zhuk, president of Belarusian State Pedagogical University.

Northwest Normal University also renewed an interschool exchange contract with Chinese Culture University.

Lu Ziyan contributed to this story.