Full text of the message reads:

It gives me great pleasure to send my greetings to the Beijing Foreign Studies University on the 60th Anniversary of its founding. Your esteemed institution has trained more than 60,000specialists in foreign languages, including many United Nations interpreters and translators, who have used their skills to facilitate communications across linguistic and cultural barriers. Graduates of the University also include hundreds of diplomats, who have worked to build stronger ties and better understanding between China and the world. Such efforts have helped the international community to promote a global culture of knowledge, within which ideas and philosophies can meet, interact and develop peacefully and productively.

Indeed, civilizations have always been enriched by the exchange of knowledge, whether in the scientific, cultural and economic spheres. In an era of globalization and high-speed communication, the relationship between knowledge and progress has become even stronger. As a key ingredient in development, social progress and human freedom, knowledge in all fields must be allowed to reach across nations. Knowledge itself must be globalized. It is gratifying to know that the Beijing Foreign Studies University is doing its part in this endeavour.

Congratulations on reaching this milestone, and thank you for your enduring support of the United Nations.

(Xinhua News Agency 09/21/2001)