Your Excellency Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, First President of the Republic of Zambia,

Your Excellency Mr. Rupia Banda, Forth President of the Republic of Zambia and executive president of the Zambia China Friendship association,

Your Honourable Ms. Margaret Mwanakatwe, Miniter of Finance,

Your Honourable Mr. Alexander Chiteme, Minister of National Development and Planning,

Ms. Bernadette Deka Zulu, executive director of the Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC)

Professors and scholars from China and African countries,

Friends from the media,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning!

The Chinese Embassy in Zambia is very pleased to co-host the China-Africa Think Tank Forum with the Zambia's well-known think tank PMRC. The BRI and FOCAC are now becoming the focus of global attention and they have also become two major platforms for China-Africa and China-Zambia practical cooperation. China has signed MOUs with more than 40 African countries including Zambia on the joint-construction of the BRI. Last month, the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) was successfully held in Beijing. World leaders and participants reached broad consensus on high-quality cooperation of the BRI. Next month, a conference on the implementation of the outcomes of FOCAC Beijing Summit will be held in China to follow up with the Eight Major Initiatives. In this regard, the convening of today’s forum is at the right time.

The forum indeed reflects the importance that Zambia attaches to the development of China-Zambia, China-Africa relations and the promotion of practical cooperation. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Zambia, I sincerely thank you all for coming.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The world today is undergoing major changes unseen in the past century. Economic globalization suffers setbacks; world economic growth remains sluggish; and the international situation is exposed to prominent unstable factors. Faced with profound and huge changes, many people feel perplexed, and some countries are looking for new paths for development and are exploring the way of global economic governance.

Having an insight into the overall international situation, His Excellency President Xi Jinping of China, put forward the Belt and Road initiative. It is a Chinese approach to meet common challenges and improve global economic governance, with the goal of pushing all countries to strengthen synergies between their development strategies, shed light on connectivity, deepen practical cooperation and achieve common development. The BRI not only catalyzes China's reform and opening up, but also takes a clear-cut stand in upholding the main theme of building an open world economy.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to share with you some of our ideas.

First, the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits are in line with trend of the times. Maintaining the common interest and destinies of all countries, having adequate communication and consultation on international matters are the only ways to achieve peace and development in today’s world. We should pull together in times of difficulty and achieve win-win results in the face of opportunities.

President Xi Jinping pointed out that "high-quality development" is the goal and direction of the BRI development. High quality means to combine the advantages of all parties into a joint force through bilateral cooperation, tripartite cooperation and multilateral cooperation. It means to adhere to the principals of openness, integrity and promote green infrastructure construction, green investment, and green finance. It means to ensure economic, social, financial and environmental sustainability of projects which are also in line with international rules and standards. China will remain a close friend, reliable partner and good brother of Africa.

President Xi Jinping emphasized that China follows a five-no approach in our relations with Africa: no interference in African countries’ pursuit of development paths that fit their national conditions; no interference in African countries’ internal affairs; no imposition of our will on African countries; no attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa; and no seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation with Africa. The BRI and FOCAC are not “traps” but “pies”. In China-Africa cooperation, China is willing to discuss with African countries to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Second, connectivity targets meet the needs of all countries and regional development strategies. We need to develop high-quality, sustainable, resilient, affordable, inclusive and accessible infrastructure projects, as infrastructure plays as the bedrock of connectivity. We need to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, say no to protectionism. We need to seize opportunities created by digital, networked and smart development and foster new growth drivers and explore new development pathway. We need to build bridges for exchanges and mutual learning among different cultures in order to facilitate multi-faceted people-to-people exchanges.

African integration is a long-term expectation and desire of African countries and people. It is necessary to realize the interconnection of transportation, energy and communication, promote regional industrial trade and investment cooperation, and integrate into the global supply chain, industrial chain and value chain, which are of vital importance to Africa's development.

Third, During the FOCAC Beijing Summit, nearly 150 cooperation agreements were signed between China and Africa, and China provided US$60 billion of financial support to Africa with “Eight Initiatives”. At the 2nd BRF, the Chinese side has put together a list of 283 concrete deliverables reached by the participating parties. The Business Forum is the innovative arrangement of the 2nd BRF and the usual practice of the FOCAC. In addition, local cooperation thematic forums were also held for the first time during the 2nd BRF this year, where Chinese local governments conducted a series of practical cooperation with local governments and enterprises of relevant countries, including Zambia. The first China Africa economic and Trade Expo will be held in Changsha, China next month. Senior officials and business Representative will participate this event.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Zambia is a natural extension of the Belt and Road Initiative, it is also an important participant in the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation. Under the above two frameworks, the Chinese side has always insisted the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith in the cooperation between China and Zambia, and jointly promote Zambia’s national development and people’s livelihood.

In 2018, the China-Zambia bilateral trade volume has reached 5 billion US dollars for the first time with a year-on-year growth of 33.9%. Zambia has a trade surplus of more than 3 billion US dollars. China's direct investment in Zambia maintained a constant growth with an increase of 327 million US dollars, once again ranking second among African countries.

Looking ahead, we have strong expectations to deepen our cooperation under the two frameworks:

We need to further enhance mutual understanding and trust. Let us seek common development, common prosperity and common progress among peoples of different regions, different historical and cultural backgrounds, different resources and market endowments. China and Zambia should continue to carry forward traditional friendship, continuously consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen mutual support on international and regional issues, so as to provide a more solid political and social foundation for cooperation.

We need to further give full play to each other’s respective advantages and potentials. Zambia is located in the heart of the southern African continent, with huge potential for infrastructure connectivity. It is rich in mineral, agricultural and forest resources and its human resources are second to none among developing countries. In the coming 15 years, China’s import of goods and services are expected to exceed 30 trillion US dollars and 10 trillion US dollars respectively. These will bring new opportunities for cooperation between Chinese and Zambian enterprises. I would like to mention here that China does not pursue a trade balance with Zambia, but stands ready to better support Zambia's economic and social development and people's livelihood through enhancing bilateral trade. For example, last year China and Zambia signed an agreement on the export of Zambian honey to China. As long as it is the quality goods of Zambia, China is willing to buy.

We need to further build cooperative flagship projects. At present, a number of key projects including CNMC South-East Ore Body, Zambia-Jiangxi Multi Facility Economic Zone, Kafulafuta Dam and Water Supply, Village Satellite TV, Smart Zambia and Levy Mwanawasa Hospital have been making remarkable progress. They have provided strong support for Zambia to accelerate its industrialization process and the implementation of 7NDP. In the future, based on the existing sound cooperation, China and Zambia may, in accordance with the requirements of the FOCAC Beijing Summit outcomes, promote a number of key projects to accelerate economic and social development and improve the living standards of the Zambian people.

We need to further promote exchanges and mutual learning. At the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations held recently in Beijing, President Xi Jinping pointed out that: “Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development.” We are willing to work with Zambia to continuously expand cooperation in the fields of culture, education, tourism and health and maintain close exchanges among parliaments, political parties, think tanks, the media and civil societies, to lay a foundation for mutual understanding and to bridge mutual learning.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Great visions can be realized only through actions. China is ready to work with Zambia and other African countries to synergize the construction of the BRI, implement the FOCAC Beijing Summit along with Zambia’s seventh National Development Plan and the AU’s 2063 Agenda, and push forward China-Africa practical cooperation.

I wish the Forum a complete success.

Thank you!