China sincerely believes that Moldova will achieve big results on its path of economic and social development and is ready to share its successful experience in this regard, the Ambassador of China to Moldova Zhang Yinghong stated in a reception held to mark the 40th anniversary of the initiation of China’s reform and opening-up policy and the fifth anniversary of the start of the Belt and Road Initiative, IPN reports.
“As the Embassy of China in the Republic of Moldova, we are ready to promote and explain the broad prospects of cooperation between China and Moldova, to create an atmosphere for bilateral cooperation and to favor the development and extension of the relations between Moldova and China,” stated Zhang Yinghong.
As to the Belt and Road Initiative, the ambassador said Moldova is an active participant in this. At the same time, the cooperation with Moldova in different areas during the last few years has seen positive results. This way, trade between the two states in 2017 amounted to US$ 524 million, rising by 30%. Moldova’s wine exports to China represent 12%. Also, the cooperation projects between the two sides develop successfully.
“This July, the sides have signed an agreement of cooperation to mutually recognize the diplomas and ranks in education, which is another result of our collaboration. The sides are now negating the signing of a free trade agreement between China and Moldova,” stated Zhang Yinghong. He expressed his conviction that the signing of this agreement will stimulate bilateral cooperation in different areas so that this is in the interests of the people of both of the countries.
As to the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in China, the ambassador said this was launched in 1978 and had a powerful impact on the county’s development. Forty years ago, the Communist Party of China started to unite the Chinese people, to promote reforms and to expand China’s openness to new opportunities.
The reform was aimed at building a powerful economy and this was done. In 2017, China’s GDP exceeded US$ 12.3 million, which is 33.5 times more than 40 years ago. The GDP per capita in 2017 was 22.8 times higher than in 1978. Compared with the same year, the number of poor people in China decreased from 770 million to 30.46 million in 2017, while the poverty level fell from 97.5% to 3.1%. China ranks first by the volume of produced grains, energy, meat, tea, etc.
Zhang Yinghong said during the past 40 years China actively benefitted from economic globalization, using the resources of two markets, the domestic one and the foreign one. In 2017, its imports and exports totaled US$ 4.1 trillion, which is almost 200 times up on 1979. Investments in science and technology increased in the period. In 2017 alone, there were submitted over 1.3 million applications to have inventions patented. There was launched the Silk Road Scholarship Program and opened education institutions abroad. Last year, over 300,000 students from 25 states studied in China, while 60,000 Chinese students studied in these countries.
A number of 103 states and international organizations signed with China 118 agreements of cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative. As regards financial cooperation, 11 Chinese banks founded 71 financial institutions. China cooperates with the African Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
