On Mar 2, Didier Dacko, ambassador of the Republic of Mali to China, paid a trip to Tianjin, a coastal city in North China, to investigate on the two country's joint vocational educational education program - the Luban Workshop program.

Didier Dacko, ambassador of the Republic of Mali to China, at a meeting on developing the Mali Luban Workshop during his visit to Tianjin Medical College on Mar 2. [Photo/mve.cn]

During his tour to Tianjin Medical College, Dacko discussed how to build and operate the Mali Luban Workshop with project leaders in Tianjin.

Luo Yan'an, deputy director of the the Tianjin municipal education commission, said that the Mali Luban Workshop is the first such a program in Africa dedicated to promoting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), TCM techniques and cultivating medical personnel for the country.

Dacko said that China and Mali have a long history of friendship and have yielded fruitful results in cooperation over the years, adding that the completion of the Luban Workshop program will further strengthen exchanges between the two countries.

Didier Dacko, ambassador of the Republic of Mali to China, visits an enterprise in Tianjin. [Photo/mve.cn]

The tour also brought Dacko to a technical training center of the Luban Workshop program at Tianjin Medical College, and saw him meet with three business partners of the vocational education program, which included Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical Co, Medvalley Technology Co and the Modern TCM Innovation Center.

The last stop of Dacko's journey was Tianjin Red Star Vocational Secondary Specialized School, where he toured the personnel training and rehabilitation centers as well as the TCM specimen museum.

In addition, Dacko visited the vocational school's workshops for making TCM sachets and fruit tea, and for teaching medically oriented flower arrangement. He spoke highly of its work in the research and development of TCM healthcare skills and techniques.