The Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day, also known as the Spring Festival, falls on 1st February 2022. It’s the most significant festival for the Chinese people, which is as important as Tobaski for the Muslims and Christmas for the Christians. Here, I sincerely wish the people and the government of The Gambia peace and prosperity in the Lunar New Year.
The past year of 2021 is a year of exceptional significance for China. The Chinese people celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), realized the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and have marched in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects. The sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee adopted the Party’s third resolution on historical issues. The CPC’s 100-year achievements provide a source of motivation and its 100-year experience a wellspring of inspiration. China overcame the impact of the pandemic,achieved economy recovery at a steady pace,and made absolute poverty history nationwide. China successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars, launched the first satellite for solar exploration, and sent two batches of astronauts to the Chinese space station. In the passage of time, we have seen and experienced a resilient and dynamic China, a country with its amicable and respectable people, a country developing rapidly with each passing day, and a country making continual progress in all its undertakings.
2021 also witnessed vibrant bilateral cooperation between China and The Gambia. The China-aid URR Roads and Bridges project has been officially inaugurated and put into use. The China-Gambia technical cooperation in agriculture has made significant breakthroughs. Chinese experts have successfully cultivated highly-productive hybrid rice varieties suitable for the Gambian climate, providing strong support to the goal of The Gambia to realize food self-sufficiency. In order to help The Gambia to fight the COVID-19,Chinese government donated 200,000 doses vaccines and urgently-needed medical supplies to The Gambia. Doctors of the China Medical Team worked shoulder to shoulder with their Gambian peers in the front line of fighting the pandemic, making great contribution in curbing the spread of the coronavirus in The Gambia. In addition, exchanges have been deepened between the top legislatures, political parties,local governments and institutions of our two countries, promoting the China-Gambia friendship in various dimensions.
2022 will be a special year for China. The Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will open soon. As the world is turning its eyes to China,we will spare no effort to present a great Games to the world. The 20th Congress of the CPC will be held this year,which is a major event for the whole party and the whole country. China has set out on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects and are making confident strides on the path toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
2022 will also witness great progress in China-Gambia relations. The 8th Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC held the end of 2021 has drawn a blueprint for the China-Africa Cooperation in the next three years. China and The Gambia will jointly implement the “Nine Programs” covering a wide range of areas, including health, poverty reduction, agriculture, trade promotion, and so on. Our two countries will deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and work together to promote the building of a closer community of shared future.
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2022 is a Year of the Tiger. In Chinese culture, the zodiac tiger signifies courage and progress. With the efforts of the whole world, the pandemic will be controlled more effectively and The world is expected to return to normal sooner. I sincerely hope that the China-Gambia relations will go from strength to strength.
Happy Chinese New Year!
