His Excellency Sir Elliott Fitzroy Belgrave, Governor General and Lady Belgrave,
Hon. Richard Sealy, Acting Prime Minister,
Hon. Sir Marsten Gibson, Chief Justice,
Ministers,
Members of Parliament,
Representatives from Diplomatic Corps,
Friends from Media,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening. Welcome to this reception to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Over the past 65 years, China has made remarkable progress in the development of economy, society, science and technology. Particularly in the previous 35 years of China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, the average annual growth rate of China’s economy reached 9.8%. China has become the second largest economy of the world with 12% share of the global economy. Meanwhile, China has made significant contributions to the world’s development. Since 2008, the year of the international financial crisis, China has contributed nearly 25% of the world’s economic growth annually. In the first half of this year, with a GDP growth of 7.4%, China was once again one of the major economies that have highest growth speed. Over the next 5 years, China will import 10 trillion USD goods, invest 500 billion USD worldwide, and more than 500 million Chinese people will travel overseas. I believe the continual and healthy development of China’s economy will be a powerful engine for global economic recovery, and provide more and more opportunities for the common prosperity of the countries in the world.
Barbados is one of the Caribbean countries that the earliest established diplomatic relations with China. The governments and peoples of the two countries have shared long term and profound friendship. This Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre reminds us that 22 years ago, the Barbadian Government decided to construct this center for hosting the 1st SIDS Conference, but unfortunately had to face the risk of suspension because of the financial difficulties. After learning this, the Chinese Government lent a helping hand by offering interest-free loan to the Barbadian Government and assigning the China State Construction Company to take over the project. And finally, this project completed about 20 days before the opening of the SIDS Conference. This unforgettable memory is one of the much told friendly stories between our two countries.
Since I assumed the office as Chinese Ambassador to Barbados 9 months ago, I have constantly experienced the amity between the two governments and peoples, and delightedly witnessed the continuous progress of the bilateral practical cooperation. Within this year, the Agreement on Mutual Visa Exemption for Holders of Diplomatic and Service (Official) Passports entered into force, and the Treaties on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition were initialed. Constant developments were achieved in the negotiations on cooperation of the Sam Lord Castle Hotel and other major projects and China aid Medical Team working in Barbados. The National Development and Reform Commission of China and the Barbados Prime Minister’s Office signed an MOU concerning the Chinese provision of goods for addressing Climate Change to Barbados. Hon. Minister Stephen Lashley led a delegation of artists to China and participated in “the Musical Festival of Latin America and Caribbean”, and Nanjing National Orchestra from China performed a concert in Barbados. The Chinese Government Scholarships to Barbadian students increased from 4 to 10. Hon. Minister Ronald Jones will visit China in October. The Hanban of China signed an agreement of cooperation with the UWI Cave Hill Campus and agreed to establish a Confucius Institute in the Campus. Next year, through the diligent efforts made by the two sides in 2014, some of the major projects supported by Chinese grant or loan will begin to construct. The Chinese Medical Team will arrive in QEH and start work. The goods including 25,000 LED lights and 1,000 units of energy-saving air conditioner provided by Chinese side for addressing Climate Change will be handed over to the Barbadian side. The Confucius Institute at Cave Hill Campus will be officially established. China will continue to send art groups to Barbados to perform acrobatics, martial arts, music and dances. It is no doubt that China-Barbados cooperation is bound to gain more new fruits in the year of 2015.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In this July, during the attendance of China-Latin America and the Caribbean Summit, Chinese President XI Jinping and the leaders of 11 LAC countries jointly announced the establishment of the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. And the first Ministerial Meeting of the Forum will be held in Beijing next year. President XI also announced China's proposals and measures on promoting China-LAC cooperation. China will strive to promote China-LAC trade to scale up to 500 billion USD and the Chinese investment stock to LAC up to 250 billion USD within ten years. China will formally implement the 20 billion USD special loans for China-LAC infrastructure, provide 10 billion USD of concessional loans for LAC countries, and launch the China-LAC Cooperation Fund with a commitment to invest 5 billion USD. Over the following 5 years, China will provide LAC countries with 6,000 government scholarships, 6,000 training offers in China.
The China-LAC cooperation has entered a fast track development, and will definitely bring new chances to the expansion of China- Barbados cooperation. China is willing to work with Barbados to accelerate the further development of the China-Barbados practical and friendly cooperation to benefit the peoples of our two countries.
In closing, I would like to propose a toast:
To the 65th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China,
To the development of the China-Barbados relationship,
To the friendship between our two peoples, and
To the health and wellbeing of all the friends present here,
Cheers!