FANG QIU, Chinese ambassador to TT, launched the Chinese Spring Festival Fair in Carenage on Sunday by saying millions of Chinese tourists celebrated the festival this year in China and millions could also visit other countries.
Making the Chinese New Year, as the Year of the Rabbit, he related an old Chinese proverb saying, "Every new year brings new beginnings and possibilities."
Fang said the year 2023 marked the start of China’s full implementation of guiding principles laid out at the 20th CPC National Congress.
"As China has refined its covid19 policies, during this year’s Spring Festival holiday, the hustle and bustle of crowds has returned to restaurants, hotels and malls across China.
"About 308 million domestic trips were made during the holiday, up 23.1 per cent.
"Popular tourist sites around the world are preparing for a surge in Chinese tourists."
With global investor optimism over China's economic prospects, he cited a UN forecast of China's growth accelerating by 4.8 per cent in 2023.
Fang was profoundly proud of generations of local Chinese living harmononiously with others and contributing to TT's economic and cultural development.
"This year is of great importance to China-TT relations, as it marks the tenth anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s historic visit to this beautiful twin-island country.
" In the year 2022, the bilateral trade volume exceeded US$1.3 billion, an increase of 23.4 per cent, year-on-year against the backdrop of a weak world economy."
Fang said the Phoenix Park Industrial Estate was undergoing smooth construction and investment promotion, and would be ready within months.
As the first Belt and Road flagship project in the Caribbean, he said the park marked the fifth anniversary of the China-TT Belt and Road agreement.
"Upon completion, the estate will inject new impetus to the economic diversification of TT and reinforce its strategic role in the Caribbean region in terms of trade and investment."
The diplomat saluted the two countries' progress in areas like health, education, arts, and exchanges between local government bodies.
Following President Xi’s visit, four Chinese medical teams came to TT, treating local patients, providing professional training, and donating medical equipment and materials, he related.
"Our cooperation in combating the covid19 pandemic has been exemplary. TT was among the first countries to offer China a helping hand.
"To reciprocate, China provided TT with more than a dozen batches of medical supplies and was among the first to provide TT with vaccines on a large scale."
Another outcome of Xi's visit was the Confucius Institute at the University of West Indies, St Augustine, which has benefited more than 3000 Chinese language learners.
"And I am gratified to see the steel pan, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, has become known to the Chinese people through many wonderful performances by Trinidad and Tobago steel bands on occasions such as the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and the Fashion Music Fes
