KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Xinhua) -- ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) countries on Thursday pledged to further strengthen their education cooperation.
At the third ASEAN+3 Education Ministers Meeting held here Thursday, senior education officials from ASEAN+3 countries reviewed fruitful results achieved in the cooperation of education among their countries.
Malaysian Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid and China's Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping jointly chaired the meeting.
Highlighting that education cooperation is an important part of people-to-people exchange, Hao said China stands ready to work together with other countries to make more contributions in this regard.
Hao said China has a long history of culture and education exchanges with Japan, South Korea and ASEAN nations, which has brought tangible benefits to the people in the region.
In 2015, more than 270,000 students from ASEAN nations, Japan and South Korea were studying in China while 150,000 Chinese students were studying in those countries, according to Hao.
A joint statement adopted by the meeting lauded the constructive role played by ASEAN+3 Education Ministers Meeting in promoting education exchange and common development in Asia, and called for closer and expanded collaboration and exchange in the future.
The fourth ASEAN+3 Education Ministers Meeting will be held in Myanmar in 2018.