Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is great honor and privilege for me to be addressing you on this important occasion of the closing ceremony of 2019 Media Exchange Program here at the Diplomatic Residence Compound in the center of China’s capital Beijing this morning.
On behalf of my fellow African journalists, I’d like to thank the Government of People’s Republic of China and its people for hosting and welcoming us to China throughout our stay during the ten months. I would also like to give special thanks to our center, China International Press Communication and China Public Diplomacy Association for its remarkable assistance to us in terms of providing better residences and environment to live, to learn and work and for their facilitation to organizing for us to attend and cover key events held in China from the two sessions in March to China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November.
The 2019 Media Exchange Program was very useful for us to understand and explore China better and know more about the reality on the ground, and my friends, from China-Africa Press Center conveyed messages about China and the productive friendship and cooperation between Africa and China or China to their respective countries with their pens and cameras.
We visited Sanya in Hainan Province on March 25th, the first trip outside Beijing, it used to be a small fishery village but now its tourist destination city. It has the same weather and coast like my rich and beautiful country of mine, Somalia as we have the longest coast in Africa.
We visited about ten other provinces in China such as Shanxi, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Hubei and Zhejiang and we saw amazing tangible achievements made and still on-going development projects. Advanced technology in place, high speed trains and better infrastructure impressed us.
Through the economic reform process, which China made in a short period, about 800 million of Chinese people were lifted out of poverty. China is now the second largest economy in the world.
Chinese Government and people are realizing their dreams through commitment, hardworking and excellent leadership and I can say China is making miracles and showing them to the world.
China is not only developing by itself, but it is taking a lion’s share in the development of other countries in the world, for example the Belt and Road Initiatives introduced in 2013 by the Chinese President, Xi Jinping to improve the connectivity and cooperation on a transcontinental scale created fruitful results so far. Countries in Africa, Europe and Asia are joining every year, in order, to benefit from the projects carried out under the Belt and Road.
I and my friends attended the Belt and Road forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in April this year. Our continent, Africa has the lead to making use of the infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road. These projects did not only do better infrastructure, but also created jobs to thousands.
“China is a friend, investor and supporter of Africa and Somalia. Common prosperity requires innovation and instill inclusive growth”, said Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hi Excellence, Mahdi Mohamed Guled who spoke at the opening ceremony of the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo held in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in central China on June 27 this year.
Somalia was the first country in east Africa to establish diplomatic ties with China and also supported China to get its legal seat from the United Nations and they established their friendly diplomatic relation on December 14, 1960.
As pioneer, I was very proud of to be the first Somali Journalist to represent his country to China for the 2019 Media Exchange Program and I cannot express my feelings in speech, and I and my friends will promote the historic and friendship bridges between China and Africa, in order for the two sides to proper well.
Thank you very much.