Zhao Yali, former ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and director of the Council for Promoting South-South Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Born in Tianjin, China in 1955. He is a professional diplomat. Since 1974, he has studied modern Greek at Aristotle University in Greece. Since 1978, he has joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and worked in the Greek and Cypriot embassies of China. From 2005 to 2009, he served as China's ambassador to Cyprus, and from 2011 to 2016, he served as China's ambassador to Uganda.