Distinguished Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili,

Distinguished Members of the Government, Vice Chairpersons and Members of the Parliament,

Dear colleagues of the diplomatic corps in Georgia, Georgian friends of all communities,

Fellow Chinese in Georgia

Good evening.

It’s my great pleasure to be here with you and jointly celebrate the 74th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Georgia, I would like to extend our warmest welcome and heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Prime Minister and friends old and new.

The year 2023 bears historic significance in the history of China-Georgia relations. Two months ago, Prime Minister Garibashvili paid a historic visit to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang met with Prime Minister Garibashvili and forged series of important consensus on promoting bilateral ties. Both sides agreed to establish a strategic partnership, opening a brand new chapter for China-Georgia relations.

At present, China-Georgia relations is at its historic peak.  31 years on, bilateral trading volume has increased by more than 500 times, approaching 2 billion US dollars. Georgia is the first country in the region to sign free trade agreement with China, infusing vast potential for bilateral trade. China has become an important partner of Georgia in economy, trade, infrastructure and so on.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The key reason that China-Georgia relations keep yielding results and climbing to new heights is that we really respect each other and strive for win-win outcomes. Looking around the world, China is no doubt a contributor to global development and advocater of mutually beneficial cooperation. For the past 17 years, China has been the biggest contributor to the world economic growth. This year, Chinese economy has continued to rebound on a sound track, with GDP growing by 5.5% in the first half of this year, notably faster than last year’s 3%. The IMF predicted that China will contribute one third of the global growth for this year. While realizing its own development, China has been constantly providing China’s wisdom and China’s idea to the future of the humanity and making relentless to build a community of shared future. Today, China just released a white paper titled “A Global Community of Shared Future: China's Proposals and Actions”, which illustrates the concrete actions China takes to build a community of shared future for mankind. Among all the efforts, promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the three Initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping are of the utmost importance.

In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed Global Development Initiative, which aims at calling on the world to stay focused on development and lending impetus to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda. China has taken result-oriented actions. Over 200 projects have come to fruition and the amount of Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, which established by China, has reached 4 billion US dolloars.

China is a firm defender of world peace and security. Last year, President Xi Jinping brought forward the Global Security Initiative, calling on the world to address the complex and intertwined security challenges with a win-win mindset. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a global powerhouse with the best peace record, the largest troop contributor to peacekeeping operation  among the five permanent members of the Security Council and the second largest donor to UN peacekeeping assessments. Under the guidance of the GSI, China has actively engaged in mediation diplomacy, pushed for the historic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and made unremitting efforts for the political settlement of hotspot issues including the Ukraine crisis. Peace is cherished more by people once suffered from wars. China stands ready to work with Georgia to jointly implement the GSI and promote the noble cause of peace and development for mankind.

This March, President Xi Jinping proposed Global Civilization Initiative, advocating coexistence, exchange and mutual learning among different civilizations and calling on the respect for the diversity of civilizations, the common value of humanity, the importance of inheritance and innovation of civilizations and robust international people-to-people exchanges. Diversity lays the foundation for the healthy development of ecosystem, while the equal-footed exchanges between different civilizations are instrumental for the sustainable development and evolvement of the human society. Being countries of ancient civilizations, China and Georgia both value the inheritance and development of traditional culture. I firmly believe that both sides will carry out more cooperation during the implementation of Global Civilization Initiative and make joint contribution to build a community of shared future for mankind.

This year also marks the 10th Anniversary of President Xi’s proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative. With unremitting efforts, the BRI has become a high-quality public good that initiated by China, built by the partners, and shared by the world. The BRI delivers high-standard, sustainable and livelihood-enhancing outcomes, and is hence joined by over three quarters of countries around the world and 32 international organizations. Over the past decade, the BRI has galvanized nearly US$1 trillion of investment, established more than 3,000 cooperation projects, created 420,000 local jobs, and helped lift almost 40 million people out of poverty.

I believe that with strategic partnership as a new start point, China and Georgia will continue to strengthen the strategic synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Middle Corridor, deepen cooperation in trade, infrastructure, new energy, tourism, education, culture etc., bringing more benefits to the two countries and the two peoples and boosting common development, rejuvenation and greater success for the two ancient civilizations along the ancient Silk Road for the new era.

I wish the great People’s Republic of China new look and new prospect, wish Georgia harmony and prosperity, wish China-Georgia friendship runs higher than mountains, deeper than oceans and becomes everlasting. Wish the whole world a brighter future.

Thank you.