On 7 February, 2024, H.E. Ambassador Wang Lixin attended the handover ceremony of school equipment donated by Yunnan Province under the Yunnan Hand in Hand Programs in the Maldives, and delivered remarks as follows:
Honorable Mrs.Sajidha Mohamed, First Lady of the Republic of the Maldives,
Respected Mr. Ahmed Haleem, Deputy Minister of Cities, Local Government and Public Works,
Respected Mr. Hassan Solah, President of the Maafushi Council,
Respected Mr. Nasir Mohamed, Principle of the Maafushi School,
Distinguished guests,
Very good afternoon!
It is my pleasure to attend the handover ceremony of school equipment under China’s Yunnan Province hand in hand programs in the Maldives, which serves as a testament to our traditional friendship and close cooperation.
China and the Maldives are friendly 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. 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 month, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President Dr. Muizzu paid a very successful and fruitful state visit to China. The two heads of states agreed to elevate our bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and reached important consensus on further promoting China-Maldives relations and practical cooperation in various fields including education & human resource development. 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,
Local government cooperation is an important component and strong support of the China-Maldives relations, which has yielded positive outcomes in recent years. China’s Yunnan province is very keen to have close cooperation with Maldivian local governments. During the visit of Mr. Wang Yubo, Governor of Yunnan Province, to the Maldives last year, he announced to donate a batch of teaching equipment to Maafushi School. Now the equipment have arrived here. I believe these school equipment will absolutely improve the overall conditions of Maafushi School and facilitate the study and sports activities of students and teachers’ work as well. This will certainly bring the hearts of our two peoples much closer and inject more momentum to the development of the relationship between our two countries.
China is always ready to work with the Maldivian side to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of states to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between local governments of China and the Maldives in order to promote the friendly relations between our two countries and two peoples.
Thank you very much!
