We would like to inform that the Institute of Maritime Transport and Seaborne Trade at the Faculty of Economics has established cooperation with the Confucius Institute at the University of Gdansk in terms of the organization of the upcoming 11th InfoGlob Conference 2019. The partnership is to result in creation of a separate panel for papers on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) within the agenda of this year’s conference. We believe that the long traditions and far-reaching commercial activities of China may result in number of interesting speeches. The New Silk Road, as a strategic economic project, and political initiative, provides researchers with broad scope of related subjects. We hope that such kind of a panel under the patronage of the Confucius Institute will not only increase the attractiveness of the 11th InfoGlob Conference 2019, but also meet with interest of various scientific environments.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Gdansk has been operating since September 2015. One of the main goals of the organization is to promote the Chinese language and culture among local schoolchildren, as well as among the entire community of a given region. Moreover, it should support business education aimed at developing economic cooperation with China. The Institute organizes language courses and cultural workshops, conducted by qualified teaching faculty designated by the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), as well as lectures and seminars for the local Chinese language teachers. It is also responsible for the organization of standardized tests of Standard Chinese language proficiency for non-native speakers (HSK, BCT, YCT), and for awarding Confucius Institute Scholarships. At present, students of several public and private primary schools in the Tricity benefit from the offer of the Confucius Institute at the University of Gdansk.