Good evening! It is a great pleasure to get together with you all virtually to celebrate the advent of spring in the lunar new year, the Year of the Tiger, which will be in 5 days. In Chinese culture, tiger symbolizes bravery and strength, as the Chinese people often refer to spirited dragon and dynamic tiger, or soaring dragon and leaping tiger. On behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Barbados, I would like to extend my New Year's greetings to all of you, and wish you a auspicious, prosperous, healthy and happy Year of the Tiger.
This is the 8th Fish and Dragon Festival jointly organized by the Chinese Embassy and the Central Bank of Barbados. I would like to express my special thanks to the Central Bank of Barbados for the always ready valuable support as well as Aja Production and Barbadian artists for their passionate dedication.
The year 2021 went down in history as a critical year for both Barbados and China. China has completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, solemnly celebrated CPC’s centenary, successfully convened the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee which comprehensively reviewed the Party’s major achievements over the past century, and proudly embarked on a new journey towards a modern socialist country. Barbados meanwhile became a republic on its 55th anniversary of independence, fulfilling a long-cherished wish since independence in 1966 and became the youngest republic in the world.
2021 was also a year of important progress in China-Barbados relations. On July 13, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, reaching a series of important consensus and charting the course for the future development of China-Barbados relations. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and Barbados have pulled together and jointly overcome the difficulties. China donated 30,000 Chinese vaccines and 14 batches of PPEs to Barbados.
Dear friends, China is the first to commit to making the COVID-19 vaccine a global public good, the first to support vaccine intellectual property rights exemption, and the first to cooperate in vaccine production with developing countries. China's vaccine has become the vaccine of the people, the vaccine of the world, and the vaccine accessible.
The friendly cooperation between China and Barbados has never been stopped by the pandemic. 49 electric buses produced by China's BYD Company have already provided services to Barbadian people, making Barbados the country with the largest fleet of electric buses in the Eastern Caribbean, reducing diesel consumption by 600,000 liters in just one year, and contributing to Barbados' clean energy mission and climate change response. The China-aided Food Security Center and Hope Agricultural Training School projects are about to start construction. After completion, they will help Barbados increase its capacity to cope with food security. Not to mention the Sam Lord's Castle Hotel project,the Confucius Institute of the West Indies University, Cave Hill Campus and the 5th Chinese medical team.
2022 is an important year for China to embark on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects and to realize the Second Centenary Goal. 2022 is also an important year for Barbados as it is the first year of Barbados being a republic. We will also usher in the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Barbados. Just in a week, Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, a streamlined, safe and splendid Games will be presented to people of all countries. Dear Friends, facing the challenges of the times, as long as all countries, all nations and all races understand each other, respect each other, work together, pull together and stand together, the bright future is there ahead of us. And we will be there, together.
Finally, I would like to invite everyone to listen to the voice of the future - the vision and hope of the children from Lushan Primary School and Charles F. Broome Primary School, which have established friendly school relations last year.
Again I wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year and auspicious Year of the Tiger!