On March 3, 2024, H.E. Ambassador Wang Lixin delivered remarks at the Handover Ceremony of the Green Ambulances to the Ministry of Health of the Maldives. The full text is as follows:

Honorable Mrs. Sajidha Mohamed, First Lady of the Republic of Maldives,

Honorable Ms. Khadheeja Abdul Samad Abdulla, Minister of State for Health,

Respected Senior officials from Ministry of Health,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen，

Dear friends,

Very good afternoon!

It gives me great pleasure to attend the handover ceremony of the green ambulances to the Ministry of Health of the Maldives, which is a new testament to our traditional friendship and close cooperation.

China and the Maldives are close neighbors, and the traditional friendship between the two peoples dates back to ancient times. Over the past 52 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relations, our two countries have always respected each other, treated each other as equals, helped each other with sincerity, and firmly supported each other on the issues related to our respective core interests and major concerns. China-Maldives relationship has become a model of friendly exchanges, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between countries of different sizes in the world.

Last November, H.E. Shen Yiqin, Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping and State Councilor of China attended the inauguration ceremony of President Muizzu and paid a friendly visit to Maldives. Early January, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President Dr. Muizzu paid a very successful and fruitful state visit to China. Two heads of states agreed to elevate our bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, reached important consensus on further promoting exchanges & cooperation in various fields, including health area. This visit has opened a new chapter for China-Maldives friendly cooperation and will take our bilateral relations to a new high.

Ladies and gentlemen, & dear friends,

Medical cooperation has played an important role in our bilateral relations for many years, which has greatly improved the well-being of Maldivian people and strengthened the friendship between our two peoples. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, China provided several batches of face masks, PCR test kits and machines, vaccines to Maldives and shared experience with Maldives on pandemic control, response and treatment, which greatly boosted the efforts of the Maldivian government to overcome the challenge. Early last year, the China-Maldives Eye Center Assistance & Cooperation Program was launched at Hulhumale Hospital, which not only brought back light to many local patients, but also helped train local doctors and nurses, who can do eye surgery by themselves now. The Chinese doctors are coming again to have medical camps on some islands to help the local people with eye diseases. At the request of Maldivian Government, we’re also planning to help build a few hospitals in Maldives, including Vilimale hospital.

But our medical cooperation should not be confined to the Greater Male Area alone, it is rather reaching out to those remote islands as well. During my visits to some islands which are far from Male, I found that the local people are commonly faced with the challenge of lack of small ambulances in dealing with transportation of patients, which has become a headache for the locals for years. In order to help the local governments solve this problem, the Chinese Embassy decided to donate 12 green ambulances to the Maldivian side, which I believe will facilitate the transportation of patients, improve the medical service and promote the livelihood of the local people.

With these green ambulances donated to the Maldivian side and bringing substantive benefits to the local people of various islands, I firmly believe that China-Maldives friendship and cooperation is truly people-oriented and will surely embrace a brighter and more prosperous prospects!

Thank you!