Your Excellency Penehupifo Pohamba, Former First Lady of the Republic of Namibia,
Honorable Jennelly Matundu, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, our guest of honor,
Honorable Secretary General of the SWAPO Party,
Honorable Ministers, Governors, Deputy Ministers,
Colleagues of the Diplomatic Corps,
My Fellow Chinese,
Friends from the media,
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening.
It is my great honor to welcome all of you, Namibian government officials at all levels and friends from all walks of life, colleagues of the diplomatic corps and my fellow Chinese, to join us in celebrating the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. I thank you all for your kind attendance.
In particular, I wish to express my gratitude to Your Excellency Penehupifo Pohamba for taking time to join us. We never forget the great contribution made by former President Pohamba to the development of China-Namibia relations when he was in office. Your Excellency, I am extremely honored that you are with us today. Your gracious presence has made this evening very special.
Over the past 74 years, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have successfully found the Chinese path to modernization and created the unparalleled miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. During the past decade, with the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese people have achieved the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and embarked on a new journey of building China into a great modern socialist country.
China today is the second largest economy, the largest trader in goods, the largest manufacturing country, the second largest recipient of FDI and the third largest source of outward FDI, and the second largest consumer market in the world as well as a major trade partner for more than 140 countries and regions, contributing over 30% to global economic growth. China's tremendous achievements in economic and social development has not only benefited the Chinese people, but also made important contribution to the promotion of world peace, stability and prosperity.
This year is the first year after the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and also marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. The Chinese Government has adopted a series of policies in promoting high-level opening-up and high-quality development. The Chinese economy has regained vitality and recovered steadily from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in the past three years, achieving a growth of 5.5 percent in the first half of this year, which made China a forerunner among the major economies of the world in terms of the rapidity of economic recovery from the pandemic.
Now the world is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, and global economic recovery is fragile and weak. In spite of the increasingly complicate and tough external environment and the pressure being felt on domestic development, the fundamentals sustaining China’s sound economic growth in the long run remain unchanged, the strong resilience, potential and vitality of the Chinese economy remain unchanged, and the conditions supporting high-quality development remain unchanged. With the accumulation of positive factors conducive to development, the Chinese economy is expected to continue its trend of steady improvement.
Recently, there have been various opinions in the world regarding China’s economic performance. Some of the views are too pessimistic, which have amplified some of the difficulties and challenges confronting the Chinese economy, and thus not reflected the true reality. It is the Chinese Government and people who know the Chinese economy best, and it is also the Chinese Government and people who have the strongest determination and ability to promote the long-term sound development of the Chinese economy. The Chinese economy has withstood the severe tests of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the global financial crisis in 2008 and the pandemic over the last three years, and it will surely overcome various kinds of risks and challenges in future.
China's development has been and will continue to be an opportunity for all the countries in the world, especially for developing countries including African countries. At the China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue held last month in South Africa, President Xi Jinping put forward the Initiative of Supporting Africa’s Industrialization, the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization and the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development, which will provide strong support for African countries, including Namibia, in overcoming challenges in economic development, poverty alleviation, jobs creation and other areas through practical measures.
As the largest developing country with strong sense of responsibility, China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. This year marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s proposal for building a global community of shared future, and yesterday the Chinese Government issued a White Paper entitled A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Actions to mark this important occasion.
By putting forward the grand vision of a global community of shared future, President Xi hopes to show the right path for the world and build a strong consensus for international cooperation in building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity. Over the last 10 years, China has successively introduced Belt and Road Initiative, Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, so as to contribute to the building of a global community of shared future with concrete actions and provide China solution to the major issues concerning world peace and development.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
China and Namibia are good friends, good partners and good brothers. Our bilateral relations are based on profound traditional friendship, deep political mutual trust and important common interests, which have made enormous progress over the past 33 years and will surely embrace an even brighter future.
Last month, President Xi Jinping and President Hage G. Geingob had a successful bilateral meeting in Johannesburg, exchanging views on deepening the China-Namibia Comprehensive Strategic and Cooperative Partnership. This was the first face-to-face meeting between our two Presidents since 2018, which has renewed the friendship between the two leaders as well as the two countries, and set the direction for the future development of the bilateral relations.
China will maintain exchange of high-level visits and interactions at all levels with Namibia, to jointly map out the blueprint for the bilateral relations, and strengthen communication and coordination in international and regional affairs.
China will uphold the principle of South-South Cooperation and constantly deepen China-Namibia economic cooperation by further expanding imports from Namibia and encouraging Chinese companies to invest more in Namibia in various fields including clean energy.
China will, based on Namibia's actual needs, continue to provide support wherever it can for Namibia's social and economic development, and help Namibia with its industrialization, agricultural modernization, talent development and infrastructure improvement.
China cherishes its longstanding friendship with Namibia and will continue to promote friendly exchanges between the peoples of two countries. I believe, with our joint efforts, our bilateral cooperation will constantly make new achievements and China-Namibia relations will be surely elevated to a new height.
It has been 8 months since I became the Chinese Ambassador to Namibia, and I have visited most of the 14 regions here. I have established extensive contacts with the various sectors and made a lot of friends. I think I am now in deep attachment to this beautiful country. To promote the development of China-Namibia relations is not only my responsibility, but also my personal devotion. I wish to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your strong support to me personally as well as to the work of the Chinese Embassy. We will continue to work hard with our Namibian friends and make greater contribution to the development of China-Namibia relations.
Now, may I propose a toast, to the 74th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, to the prosperity of China and Namibia, to the everlasting China-Namibia friendship, and to the health and happiness of all the guests here. Cheers!