Mr. Ned Sibeya, Director of National Planning Commission,

All the Namibian Government Officials Present，

All the Participants of 2024 China Training Programs,

Friends from the Media,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

It’s my great pleasure to welcome all of you to the Chinese Embassy, celebrating together 2024 China-Namibia training cooperation.

This is the first time for us to host such reception, and we plan to make it an annual event. Our purpose is to highlight the importance of China-Namibia training cooperation and to provide a platform for all the participants of China training programs to share their experience with each other. In addition, we hope to have your opinions and suggestions to improve our work. We have just heard the three speakers talk about their training experience in China, and I appreciate their comments.

Let me take this opportunity to thank Director Sibeya and his colleagues in the National Planning Commission for their support in organizing this event. The NPC is the coordinator for China-Namibia training programs on the Namibian side and they have played a critical role in the success of this important joint endeavor. Director Sibeya has made very warm remarks on behalf of the Executive Director of the NPC, which I am deeply appreciative of. I also thank all our distingushed guests for making yourselves available.

Human capital development is extremly important for all the countries. In China, we have put enormous resources into fostering an efficient public sector and a skilled labor force. We have established Party and Administration Schools at all levels, and by 2020, we have built the world's largest vocational education system in China, with a total of 11,500 vocational schools which produce about 10 million high-quality technicians every year. These achievements have no doubt helped create the economical miracle in China over the past four decades.

As the largest developing country in the world, China is keen to contribute to the human capital development in other Global South countries. China has so far undertaken 17000 human resources development and cooperation programs for 186 countries and international organizations. These efforts have resulted in the training of over 470,000 professionals across more than 100 disciplines within 23 fields, including public administration, national development, diplomatic service, poverty alleviation, health-care, education, scientific research, culture, sports and transportation.   

At the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, known as the FOCAC, Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced new measures for China to support human capital development in Africa in the 10 partnership actions for modernization China will take with Africa in the next three years. China will implement with Africa more solidly the Future of Africa-Vocational Education Cooperation Plan, establish together an engineering technology academy, and build ten Luban Workshops. We will provide 60,000 training opportunities to Africa, mainly for women and youths.

With this background in mind, we should all work even harder to further expand China-Namibia training cooperation. Namibia is in great need of skilled workforce in various fields, as the land of brave is determined to push forward its industralization and agricultural modernization program as well as major projects in oil and gas and green hydrogen development.

As you know, currently, we host two categories of training programs, multilateral and bilateral programs. Multilateral programs are open for participation by trainees from several or many countries, while bilateral ones are only for one single country. In future, we can host more bilateral programs for our Namibian friends tailoring to your specific needs. These programs can be held in China or in Namibia. We should increase programs to be held in Namibia so that more people can enjoy the benefit.

Talking about the training cooperation, it’s also very important to strengthen the cooperation between the technical and vocational education training institutions between our two countries. Our two sides are discussing the signing of Mou on cooperation in the field of technical and vocational education training. I hope we can conclude discussion and sign the MOU at an early date.

Distinguished guests, we are actively advocating for the building of a community of shared future for mankind, which was initiated by Chinese President Xi. President Xi also put forth the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative as important guidance for China to work toward that lofty goal. As China and Africa being both members of the Global South and long-time friends, we are always happy to see the great achievements of our African friends in their social and economic development and we will always be there with you wherever you need our help.

In conclusion, I wish to assure our Namibian friends that the Chinese Embassy will continue to do its utmost to promote China-Namibia training cooperation by working together with the NPC and other relevant government agencies of Namibia. I welcome all our friends present this evening to visit China again in the near future.

Thank you!