“The seminar shows the global development that the wonderful country of China has sought and seeks.” The representative of participants Mme. Wijdan Qahtan, Assistant Director General of the Planning and Follow-up Department in the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, said at the closing ceremony of the Seminar.
From June 21 to July 4, 2022, the Seminar on Development of Transportation Infrastructure for BRI Countries, organized by the Academy for International Business Officials, MOFCOM, was successfully held online. 13 participants from 4 countries, namely Egypt, Tajikistan, Iraq and Lesotho, attended the seminar via video link to learn Chinese achievements and experience of transportation infrastructure construction and China’s national conditions through 11 lectures and 7 discussion sessions.
At 10 o’clock local time on July 4, on behalf of the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, Mme. Wijdan attended the online closing ceremony of the seminar in Iraq, which is thousands of kilometers away from China, and conveyed thanks and appreciation from His Excellency the Minister.
Mme. Wijdan (upper right) attends the closing ceremony and delivers a speech
“China enjoys genius and remarkable rapid growth”
Through the seminar lectures, Mme. Wijdan feels differently about China. Surprised by China’s rapid growth, she said that China’s development is like a tide, silent but strong enough to stun the world. Mme. Wijdan appreciates China for its rapid growth and national strength and says that it’s predictable to see China’s promising future. Nothing can stop China’s steps toward development.
Mr. Abdullah Kamel Resan, Chief Engineer of the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, also expresses his feelings to the seminar staff. “Thanks for the People’s Republic of China for the opportunity to attend the seminar. In addition to the specialized courses on transportation infrastructure, we also learned about China’s experience of development, culture and history. I hope the Belt and Road Initiative will promote the common development among countries.”
Mr. AbdelMalek, from the Damietta Port Authority of Egypt, is raising questions
Mr. Abdullah, from the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, is attentively taking notes on lectures
“I’d like to spend more time learning from China”
Before the seminar, Mme. Wijdan just viewed China as a country with profound history and culture. Through the well-designed lectures, she has a better understanding of China’s achievements of cutting-edge technologies in various fields and is interested in Chinese culture. She wants to explore more about China and is confident about its future development. She also hopes to have an opportunity to visit China and learn more about the country, its people and the good life here.
According to Mme. Wijdan, every Chinese friend she met or knew during the seminar will inspire her in culture, science, philosophy and other aspects. She hopes to learn about China’s profound culture and history if possible and looks forward to combining traditional culture and modern technologies to build a better future. She sincerely hopes that countries can jointly enhance cooperation and promote transportation infrastructure connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Mme. Wijdan is listening carefully in class
Mme. Wijdan’s work photo in the Iraqi Ministry of Transport
“Hope to travel with breezes to China”
China and Iraq enjoy profound history and long-lasting friendship. In the lecture on Chinese traditional culture, Zhou Xiaomei, the teacher from the Beijing International Chinese College, vividly illustrated Chinese music and instruments with pictures. Hearing the Chinese classic song “How Long Will the Full Moon Appear”, Mme. Wijdan immediately expressed her likes for Chinese music. “I really love Chinese music. This beautiful song reflects Chinese elegant taste and their highlight of reunion. Just as the lyric writes, we hope people around the world can enjoy life. Despite the long distance, we’ll meet again with our shared goals and dreams in mind…We really hope to travel with breezes to China.”
On September 21, 2021, President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI) at the UN General Assembly for the first time, drawing a blueprint for countries’ development and international cooperation and setting out the direction for global development. In the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual session, focusing on the Global Development Initiative, President Xi Jinping reiterated, “The Initiative is a public good open to the whole world, which aims to form a synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and boost common development across the world. China stands ready to work with all partners to jointly translate the Initiative into concrete actions and make sure that no country is left behind in this process.”
Global Development Initiative goes beyond the mountains, seas and boundaries. Under this initiative, China will work with all parties to implement the GDI step by step: forging synergy in priority areas, responding to the needs of all countries, partnering with cooperation mechanisms and reaching out to partners of all sectors. It has also identified eight priority areas for cooperation and garnered strong impetus to achieve the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals and bring new hope of leap-frog development to developing countries.
As the headquarter of China’s international cooperation in human resources development, AIBO serves the major country diplomacy and proactively implements the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. Since the first international development cooperation program launched in 1998, AIBO has held around 2000 seminars for more than fifty-six thousand government officials at all levels, including over 1000 ministerial-level officials, from over 160 countries and regions. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, AIBO explored new modes for online seminars and held China’s first online foreign aid training program at the end of 2020. So far, it has held over 140 online training programs.
As an old Chinese saying goes that the peach and the plum do not speak, yet a path is born beneath them. Through these foreign aid training programs, Mme. Wijdan and other participants feel China’s efforts and diligence to promote global shared development.
During this seminar, on June 24, President Xi Jinping chaired the High-level Dialogue on Global Development in Beijing via video link and delivered a remark titled Forging High-quality Partnership for a New Era of Global Development. President Xi highlighted that we must get a good grasp of the overarching development trend in the world, firm up confidence, and act in unison and with great motivation to promote global development and foster a development paradigm featuring benefits for all, balance, coordination, inclusiveness, win-win cooperation and common prosperity. As the Executive Team of the Foreign Aid Training Program, AIBO, we are fortunate and proud to contribute to the marvelous goal of global development in our daily work through the platform of the foreign aid training program. We’re convinced that the Global Development Initiative will provide Chinese answer to “the question of our times” and inject great momentum to revitalize global development and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
(Translated from Chinese version by Ms. Hu Peiyu, Beijing Foreign Studies University）
