China-Africa teacher training center opens in Addis Ababa

A new training center for vocational education teachers opened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Dec 23.

The center, part of the Engineering Practice Innovation Project (EPIP) of the China-Africa (Ethiopia)-United Nations (Industrial Development Organization) Center of Excellence, was originally the Luban Workshop in Ethiopia but has now been upgraded to a teacher training base that will serve all of Africa.

Guan Zhiyong, deputy director-general of the Department of International Cooperation of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), and Teshale Berecha, Ethiopia's state minister of labor and skills, unveiled the center together.

In Guan's address, he said that the establishment of the EPIP center is a concrete element of the 10 partnership actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and a positive outcome of the Global Development Initiative (GDI). The center will help integrate the rich cooperative resources of China, Africa and the United Nations, leverage the technical and network advantages of the Luban Workshop, effectively enhance the development of the workshop, and vigorously promote the future development of the Federal Technical and Vocational Training Institute of Ethiopia, he said. It will serve as a skills training base for talents across Africa, facilitate industrial modernization, and promote the green and sustainable development of the continent, he added. 

Teshale said Ethiopia and China have long respected and supported each other, achieving significant progress in bilateral cooperation ranging from infrastructure to trade and investment. The establishment of the EPIP center is another milestone in vocational education cooperation between the two countries, and also a major outcome of the China-Africa-UN Center of Excellence, he noted. The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the GDI have injected vitality into Africa's development. Ethiopia looks forward to working with China to build the center into a key hub for Sino-African vocational education cooperation and enhancing the vocational and technical capabilities of teachers in African countries, he added.