China will set up a Confucius Institute in Belarus either late this year or early next year to cope with the growing demand from Belarussian people to learn mandarin.

The Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) and the Belarussian Ministry of Education will actively promote and cooperate in the establishment of a Confucius Institute, according to an agreement signed by the two parties on Thursday.

The Confucius Institute was initiated in 2004. It is a non-profit school specializing in Chinese language education and cultural communication.

Anatoly Afanasievich Tozik, the Republic of Belarus' ambassador to China, said that three schools in Minsk, the Belarussian capital, began to offer Chinese courses this year with 91 first-year primary school students forming the first group of Chinese language learners.

Tozik said he hoped the Confucius Institute would not only serve as a platform for language teaching, but also as a center to study Chinese economy, science, culture and philosophy.

China plans to invest 200 million yuan (25 million U.S. dollars) in promoting Chinese language teaching abroad this year, according to Zhao Guocheng, a senior official with Hanban.

"China has now signed agreements with 51 countries and regions around the world to set up Confucius Institutes," Zhao said.

Editor: Wing