From October 21st to 22nd, a series of activities celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Alliance Française de Xi'an was held at Northwest University. Ms. Myriam PAVAGEAU, Minister-Counsellor of the French Embassy in China, Mr. Luc PAYRAUD, Deputy Consul General of France in Beijing, Mr. Florent AYDALOT, Counselor for Cultural and Educational Cooperation of the French Embassy in China, Mr. Cerdan Marc, Secretary General of the Alliance Française Foundation, and 13 French or Chinese directors of the Alliance Française in China attended the activities. Prof. Sun Qingwei, President of NWU, and Prof. Cao Rong, Vice President of NWU, respectively participated in the activity and delivered speeches. And director of Office of International Collaboration also joined the activities.
At the ceremony, Sun Qingwei welcomed the French Minister-Counsellor and her delegation and introduced to the guests the development status of NWU as well as the achievements of educational exchanges with France.
Myriam PAVAGEAU expressed her gratitude to NWU for its long-term support to the Alliance française de Xi’an. She pointed out that Xi'an’s profound cultural heritage, high-quality higher education resources and vibrant economic environment are the main reasons for choosing Xi’an to establish the Alliance Française. The Alliance Française de Xi’an has fully benefited from these favorable environments, and after years of development, it has occupied an important position in the whole Alliance Française system.
At the seminar for Chinese and French directors of the Alliance française, Cao Rong congratulated the Alliance française de Xi’an on its 20th anniversary. Florent AYDALOT said that in the future, he would continue to strengthen Sino-French cooperation, continue to promote the French language and culture, and deepen Sino-French exchanges and cooperation in the fields of green environmental protection, heritage conservation and sustainable development. Cerdan Marc introduced the main responsibilities of the Alliance Française Foundation and reviewed the development of the Alliance.
In 2004, NWU cooperated with the Alliance Française de Paris to establish the Alliance Française de Xi’an, which is dedicated to the promotion of the French language and culture, organizing different levels of French language training and a variety of French cultural exchanges, which are very popular with French language learners and French culture enthusiasts.
