Chinese President Xi Jinping called for deepening strategic cooperation between China and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) while meeting with the visiting UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany in Beijing on Tuesday.
During their meeting at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday afternoon, Xi commended the organization's contributions to enhancing mutual understanding and trust among peoples of all countries and promoting exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
"China actively supports the work of UNESCO, and the two sides have jointly done much to safeguard world peace and promote global development. I once said that such cooperation is very precious and should be carried on. My wife is UNESCO's Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls' and Women's Education, and she attaches great importance to this work. China is willing to deepen strategic cooperation with the UNESCO under your leadership to better benefit the people of all countries," Xi told the UNESCO director-general.
El-Enany thanked Xi for China's continued and extensive support to UNESCO, and also recalled a speech made by Xi at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris 12 years ago.
"Your words are still resonating at UNESCO since your speech in 2014 when you shared with the whole UNESCO family the importance of exchange and mutual learning from each other. This is my priority at UNESCO," he said.
Xi calls for deepening China-UNESCO strategic cooperation to benefit all people
The 2026 World Digital Education Conference released eight major consensuses and agreements in east China's Hangzhou City on Tuesday, with attendees rallying around solutions and standards for promoting the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and education worldwide.
The results included an initiative on AI education and an upgraded version of China smart education public service platform.
The three-day conference, which opened on Monday, aims to build an open and inclusive global dialogue platform and promote consensus and norms on artificial intelligence (AI) governance in education.
Themed "AI+ Education: Transformation, Development and Governance," the event attracted over 850 guests from 65 countries and regions around the world.
"This conference has surpassed the previous three editions in terms of international influence and participation, with more than 500 foreign guests in attendance. During the conference, we also signed intergovernmental agreements on AI education cooperation with Uzbekistan and Brazil. Meanwhile, AI cooperation has also emerged as a new hotspot in cooperation between schools and between enterprises and universities," said Yang Dan, director at the department of international cooperation and exchanges of China's Ministry of Education.
According to the data released by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the world will still need approximately 44 million teachers by 2030.
Facing this fundamental challenge, participants at the conference agreed that it is also necessary to stay alert to ethical and security issues as AI is increasingly used in education. "Having an eye on the ethical use of AI and to avoid any harm on the education. Looking forward to continuing this deep partnership with China in education and using technology in education in an ethical and inclusive and equitable way," said Khaled El-Enany, director-general of UNESCO.
Agreements on education-AI integration reached at World Digital Education Conference
