On 6 August 2024, H.E. Ambassador Wang Lixin attended the Maldives-China(Sichuan) Trade and Investment Cooperation Conference and delivered a speech. The following is the full text of the speech:
Deepening Economic and Trade Cooperation,
Writing a Chapter of Friendship
Honorable Mohamed Saeed, Minister of Economic Development and Trade,
Honorable Ahmed Shiyam, Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources,
Honorable Dr. Aishath Rameela, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Welfare,
Honorable Adam Shareef Umar, Minister of Cities, Local Government and Public Works,
Respected Zhu Chunxiu, Deputy Director of Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning!
It’s my great pleasure to attend the Maldives-China (Sichuan) Trade and Investment Cooperation Conference. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in the Maldives, I would like to extend warm congratulations on the opening of the conference. China and Maldives enjoy a time-honored traditional friendship. We are friends of sincere trust and mutual assistance as well as partners of joint development and common prosperity. Over the past 52 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have always respected and supported each other, setting a good example of equality, mutual assistance and mutual benefit between countries of different sizes. In recent years, focusing on the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, China and the Maldives have deepened mutually beneficial cooperation and shared the fruits of development, strongly promoting the economic and social development and improving people’s livelihood in the Maldives.
The key to the stable development of China-Maldives relations lies in the strategic guidance of the two heads of state. In 2014, President Xi Jinping paid a historic state visit to the Maldives. The two sides agreed to upgrade China-Maldives relations to future-oriented comprehensive friendly cooperative partnership. Maldives became one of the first countries to join the BRI and one of the first countries to benefit from it. Ten years later, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu paid a successful state visit to China at the beginning of this year. The two heads of state jointly announced the elevation of China-Maldives relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and to promote the building of a China-Maldives community with a shared future. The two sides agreed to advance the high-quality construction of the BRI to better align our policies, fully implement the Global Development Initiative, and further improve the quality of cooperation. Strategic guidance by the two heads of state has mapped out a new blue print for mutually-beneficial cooperation, opened up new vision and set the direction for the development of bilateral ties.
The purpose of China-Maldives friendly cooperation is to promote common development and benefit the people. We align the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative with the economic development strategies of the Maldives. Our practical cooperation has made fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the people in the Maldives. In terms of infrastructure connectivity, we have cooperated on multiple BRI landmark projects. The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge was opened to traffic in August 2018, with a total traffic volume of hundreds of millions bringing great convenience to local people. The capacity of the expanded Velana International Airport has doubled, giving a strong boost to the local tourism industry and economic recovery. In terms of trade connectivity, once the China-Maldives Free Trade Agreement takes effect, the business and products from the Maldives can enter China’s enormous market more conveniently and share development dividends. I believe that today's conference will help the Maldivian companies and Sichuan enterprises strengthen cooperation on economic and trade, effectively tap their respective potentials, and further expand the space for cooperation. In terms of people-to-people bond, since the beginning of this year, with the resumption and opening of multiple routes between our two countries, people-to-people exchanges between China and Maldives have become more convenient with the number of Chinese tourists to Maldives increasing rapidly, over 165,000 so far. China has again become the largest source of tourists in the Maldives. China and the Maldives have seen close and frequent cultural exchanges with art troupes and delegations from all over China visiting the Maldives, cementing public support for the sustained development of our relations. Our bilateral cooperation in desalination, electricity, new energy, culture, education, healthcare and other areas has achieved significant results, greatly improving the well-being of Maldivians.
China and the Maldives aim to create a future featuring sustainable development. In 2021, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative at the 76th UN General Assembly, contributing Chinese solutions and wisdom to promote the international community to make joint efforts and solve the problem of development deficit, as well as achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In recent years, China and the Maldives have jointly built the BRI and implemented the Global Development Initiative to help Maldives improve its capacity to achieve independent and sustainable development. The beginning of 2023 saw the launch of the China-Maldives Ophthalmology Center Assistance and Cooperation Program. Medical staff from the two countries worked together and finally built a permanent ophthalmology center. The model of China’s medical assistance is shifting from “offering a fish” to “teaching how to fish”. Each year China welcomes multiple delegations of the Maldivian civil servants, MPs, athletes, local officials to attend training courses in China to facilitate the sustainable development of the Maldives by improving their capacity building. We are also actively promoting exchanges and cooperation between provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China and cities, atolls and islands in the Maldives to explore potential in local government cooperation and make sure that China-Maldives friendship is deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples. The Sichuan Provincial Delegation will sign cooperation documents on agricultural training, healthcare, education and other areas with the Maldivian side, and donate a batch of equipment to the Maldivian side. Enterprises from both Sichuan and the Maldives can take this opportunity to conduct in-depth exchanges to better connect the two peoples and strengthen pragmatic cooperation.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
China and the Maldives have unlimited potential and vitality in economic and trade cooperation. It has been proved that the cooperation between China and the Maldives in jointly building the BRI and implementing Global Development Initiative has brought transformative impacts on the national development and people's livelihood of the Maldives. China and Maldives are jointly embarking on a road of hope, prosperity and happiness. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and is also a critical year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan of China. The just-concluded Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee stated that opening up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. We must remain committed to the basic state policy of opening to the outside world and continue to promote reform through opening up. Leveraging the strengths of China's enormous market, we will enhance our capacity for opening up while expanding cooperation with other countries and develop new institutions for a higher-standard open economy. We will steadily expand institutional opening up, deepen the foreign trade structural reform, further reform the management systems for inward and outward investment, improve planning for regional opening up, and refine the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. I believe that China's further expansion of high-standard opening up and the China-Maldives Free Trade Agreement’s coming into force will bring new development opportunities for China-Maldives friendly cooperation. China is ready to work with the Maldives to carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, unswervingly promote high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, work together to benefit the two peoples and build a beautiful world, and jointly write a magnificent chapter of a community with a shared future for mankind!
Thank you very much!