Chinese Embassy honours new ambassador

The Chinese Embassy in Banjul on Thursday hosted a reception in honour of its new ambassador, M.A. Jianchun held at Coco Ocean in Bijilo.

Ambassador M.A. Jianchun at the reception said he immediately felt the hospitality and enthusiasm of The Gambia upon arrival in the country. “I assured President Barrow that I shall do my best efforts to develop friendly relations and cooperation between our two countries and deepen the friendship of our peoples.”

During the Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which was successfully held this September, China shared the fruits and opportunities of its development with Africa by announcing eight major initiatives in collaboration with Africa for industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, healthcare, people-to-people exchange and peace and security.

The Gambia, as one of the newest and important members of the great FOCAC family, will surely benefit from the fruitful outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit just as all other members of the forum do, he assured.

The eight major initiatives conform well to the National Development Plan (NDP) of the Gambian government in many ways.

He further said that the China-Gambia cooperation in various areas is already impressive and “we are glad to see more projects coming.”

He stated that this December, the China-aid project of Road and Bridges Construction in URR will be launched, which will greatly contribute to the development of the region and the country as a whole and help improve the daily lives of the local people.

The Confucius Institute at the University of The Gambia will also be inaugurated shortly, which will boost China-Gambia cultural exchanges and bring the hearts of our people even closer to each other, he said.

He promised that next year, China will provide more Chinese Government Scholarships for excellent and hardworking Gambian students who are eager to pursue top-quality higher education in China.