Three Turkmen universities have entered into agreements with the Chinese Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC) of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China to improve the qualifications of Turkmen Chinese language teachers, reports the IIC. Cooperation agreements were signed during the visit of CLEC General Director Ma Jianqing to Turkmenistan with the leaders of the Magtymguly Turkmen State University, D. Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages, and the International University of Humanities and Development. According to the documents, CLEC will assist Turkmen universities in training highly qualified teaching staff to teach the Chinese language. In addition, it is planned to send Chinese teachers to partner universities. According to CLEC, cultural and educational ties between China and Turkmenistan have expanded significantly over the past 10 years. Today, Chinese is studied in more than 10 secondary schools in Turkmenistan, and specialized language courses are also available. CLEC is a non-profit educational organization supported by the Ministry of Education of China.