Since 1978, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have been forging ahead with perseverance and determination and enormously transformed the East Asian country.
This sentiment is shared by the Chinese ambassador to Botswana Dr Zhao Yanb who said China has successfully embarked on a path of socialism with distinctive Chinese features and achieved remarkable economic and social development.
Over the last four decades, according to Yanb, China has adopted the right approach to development and endeavored to transform the growth model.
Available figures show that over the past four decades, China has grown into the world’s second largest economy, the largest industrial producer, the largest trader of goods, and the holder of the largest foreign exchange reserves.
China’s GDP has averaged an annual growth rate of around 9.5 per cent in comparable prices and its foreign trade has registered an annual growth of 14.5 per cent in US dollars.
Yanb said recently that the key to the success story of China’s development is the policy of reform and opening-up.
During the last four decades, Yanb said, the living standards of the Chinese people have been greatly improved. They emerged from a life of shortages he said and poverty and are now enjoying abundant supply and a moderately prosperous life.
“More than 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the global total over the same period,” he said.
Emerging industries like the digital economy are thriving. The construction of high-speed railways, highways, bridges, ports, airports, and other types of infrastructure has picked up pace. The level of urbanization has risen by an annual average of 1.2 percentage points. And the innovation-driven development strategy is making China a country of innovators, with major advances made in science and technology.
Contributing over 30 per cent of global growth in recent years, he boasted China has become a key anchor and driver for the world economy and a positive force in advancing the noble cause of global peace and development.
China, he said has done its best to help Africa’s development and shared its development outcomes with the continent.
In line with the principle of sincerity, friendship and equality in its cooperation with Africa, the Ambassador said China successfully held the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit earlier this month.
“During the summit leaders of China and 53 Africa countries reached consensus on building an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future through win-win cooperation.
The Summit is said to be a milestone in the history of China-Africa relations, with the Beijing Declaration and Beijing Action Plan 2019-2022 being unanimously adopted.
Back home, it has since emerged that China will also explore measures to increase import of diamonds, beef from Botswana and encourage Botswana to attract more Chinese tourists.
