The Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, who paid an official visit to China from July 9 to 15, hailed China's development experience and said his country can learn from China's efforts in poverty alleviation.
Since China and the Solomon Islands established diplomatic relations five years ago, cooperation between the two countries has achieved significant results in joint ventures, investment programs and trade.
Manele said that despite differences in national conditions, the Solomon Islands can adopt the proven approach and principles that eliminated absolute poverty in China for use in its own long-term pursuit of development.
"There are lessons that we can learn from China in terms of its development journey and experiences, especially as far as it relates to poverty alleviation. There are initiatives there that I believe can be also done in the Solomon Islands. Of course, the national conditions or contexts could slightly be different. I think the general approach and principles are there. It's not easy. It takes time, and it also depends on the commitment of people or communities in that area. We would like to move forward, but then the whole country has to come with us," said the prime minister.
Manele also conveyed his best wishes for the Chinese people and President Xi Jinping as this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
"I wish President Xi Jinping continuing good health, progress and prosperity. And I wish all Chinese people, very hardworking people, all the best as they celebrate the 75th anniversary, but also going into the future," he said.
China's poverty alleviation experiences worth studying: Solomon Islands PM
Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit resonated with the common aspiration of more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people and demonstrated China's firm will of moving forward hand-in-hand with Africa along the path of development, revitalization and modernization, several participants at the event have said.
In his speech on Thursday, Xi proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
He also announced that the Chinese government will provide 360 billion yuan (about 50.8 billion U.S. dollars) of financial support to Africa over the next three years.
"Everyone was happy to hear those news, so everyone was clapping. So now we are going to a higher level of relations between China and Africa," said Hamidou, a counselor at the Embassy of Comoros in Beijing.
"China understands Africa's urgent desire to advance modernization. We can learn a lot from China's development," said Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso Karamoko Jean Marie Traore.
Xi also suggested 10 partnership actions for modernization that China will take together with Africa in the next three years to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead modernization in the Global South.
"President Xi, through his long vision of the needs of countries and his interest in supporting development, has offered this as a real vehicle to promote exports of Africa to China, which is a huge market," said Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Professions (UACCIAP).
"As he told this morning, we have many projects in digitalization, in capacity building, in health centers, support for health, for infrastructure, in the framework of the Belt and [Road]. And we think that we are very satisfied with this partnership. This is a win-win partnership," said Gabriel Mbairobe, Cameroon's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, the 2024 FOCAC summit brought together leaders from China and over 50 African countries, who highlighted the common pursuit of China and African countries in realizing modernization.
During the summit, both sides unanimously adopted two important documents -- a declaration on jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and an action plan of the FOCAC for the next three years.
Xi's speech at FOCAC summit resonates with people's common aspiration: participants
