On March 7, the official launch of the planetarium and the handover of the Chinese language textbooks were held in the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre of Johannesburg. Chargé d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy Li Song, Minister of Basic Education Angelina Motshekga, Director General of the Basic Education Hubert Mweli, MEC of Gauteng Andrek Lesufi and other 200 guests from various walks of life attended the ceremony.

In his remarks, Chargé d'Affaires Li Song said the planetarium is an early harvest project for the state visit of President Xi Jinping to South Africa and the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit, and thus serves as great example of our joint efforts in the full implementation of the leaders' agreement. This science and education cooperation project marks the friendship between the Chinese and South African people and the continued growth of people-to-people exchange and cooperation between China and South Africa and beyond. He pointed out that the Chinese language learning, being the fastest growing area of cultural exchange between China and South Africa, will give the South African youth powerful wings as they set out to explore China and the Chinese culture.

Minister Motshekga said China and South Africa have reached a number of important agreements in educational, people-to-people and cultural cooperation. The launch of the planetarium is a significant step of implementing these agreements. She said sound progress has already been made in introducing Chinese language teaching into the national curriculum and she is looking forward to more practical cooperation with China on basic education and vocational education.

After the ceremony, guests from China and South Africa cut the ribbon for the launch of the planetarium. Chargé d'Affaires Li Song and Minister Motshekga also gave interviews to the media after the ceremony.

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