Chinese Government provides a RMB 5 million grant — via a February 2008 ETCA — for a Confucius Institute Project (Linked to Project ID#65513)

On February 1, 2008, the Chinese Government and the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), in which the Chinese Government committed RMB 30 million ($4 million USD) in grant funding to Lebanon for a Confucius Institute Project and other unspecified activities. Of the RMB 30 million grant, RMB 5 million was earmarked to provide in-kind support for a Confucius Institute Project. The remaining funds were to be allocated at a later date for projects mutually agreed upon by the two governments. The grant was made to fulfill a declaration of intent made at the International Conference for Support to Lebanon - Paris Conference III. According to a July 2008 and October 2009 CDR report, some of the grant proceeds from the ETCA were intended to be used for technical assistance and public administration furnishings. As of September 2009, the grant proceeds were earmarked for the acquisition of telecommunication equipment, in addition to the Confucius Institute Project. At the time, the agreement with the Confucius Institute for the project's implementation had not yet been reached, while the telecommunications acquisition was pending approval by the Lebanese Government. The RMB 5 million for the Confucius Institute Project is captured by this project; for the RMB 25 million for the telecommunications project, see linked project ID#65513.

Additional details

This project is known as "Support to Confucius Institute and Implementation of other Economic and Technical Cooperation Projects - 2008" in the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction's (CDR) database. The agreement number is 6030 (see "CDR Funding - Support to Confucius Institute and Implementation of other Economic and Technical Cooperation Projects - 2008"). According to a list of Chinese loans and grants to Lebanon - which AidData acquired via 2018 email correspondence with Lebanon's Ministry of Finance - the signing date of this grant was January 18, 2008 (see "Grants" tab of "China Loans and grants (1).xlsx"). However, numerous official sources at the time (such as pg. 1 of "Aid Coordination Newsletter Issue 4 March 2008"; "Support to Confucius Institute and Implementation of other Economic and Technical Cooperation Projects - 2008"; and pg.45 of "International Conference for Support to Lebanon-Paris III Fifth Progress Report") provide a signing date of February 1, 2008, which AidData has taken as correct. CDR ("CDR Funding - Support to Confucius Institute and Implementation of other Economic and Technical Cooperation Projects - 2008") reports the USD equivalent of this RMB 30 million grant as $4,703,483 million USD. However, official sources at the time (pg.152 of "Financing the Reconstruction Program - July 2008" and pg.1 of "Aid Coordination Newsletter Issue 4 March 2008", among others) report a $4 million USD figure. The only Confucius Institute in Lebanon at the time was the one at Saint Joseph University. Its 2006 creation is captured by project ID#41115. However, AidData has not found hard evidence that this grant was intended for that particular Confucius Institute. As this is an ETCA, which is a financing mechanism specific to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), AidData has coded MOFCOM as the specific Chinese Government institution responsible for providing this grant.

Number of official sources

7

Number of total sources

8