H.E. Hu Zhangliang (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Sierra Leone)
Putting people first and foremost has always been a core ideal of the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s governance philosophy. The people-centered philosophy and high-quality development were the basic considerations in drafting The CPC Central Committee’s Proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 (hereinafter referred to as “The Proposal”).
During China’s 13th Five Year Plan period, from 2016 to 2020, China has made great progress with stable economic growth and better economic structure, and people’s living standards have been significantly improved. At the same time, China’s development is still inadequate and unbalanced. The reform tasks in key areas are arduous, the innovation ability needs to be enhanced, the gap between urban and rural areas needs to be narrowed, the basic role of the agricultural sector needs to be consolidated, environmental protection has a long way to go and people aspire for better lives. There’s strong call in China for high-quality development. And high-quality development is a way to properly tackle the relevant issues.
In order to further ensure the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, the CPC remains committed to the people-centered philosophy of development, and strives to further improve the quality of people’s lives through pursuing high-quality development. High-quality development means innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development. According to The Proposal, a series of measures will be implemented, including increasing people’s income, strengthening the policy of giving priority to employment, building a high-quality education system, improving the multi-level social security system, comprehensively promoting the building of a healthy China, implementing the national strategy for actively responding to the aging population, strengthening and innovating social governance etc.
China will step up supply-side structural reform, work hard for better quality, higher efficiency, and more robust drivers of economic growth through reform. Chinese people will receive greater and more equitable benefits from reform and development, and enjoy more substantial, assured, and lasting feelings of fulfillment, happiness and security as China makes constant strides toward the goal of common prosperity.
China aims to foster, over time, a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. This will create more space for China’s economic development and add impetus to global economic recovery and growth. China will continue to advance an open world economy and support economic globalization. China will continue to promote with other countries the high-quality development of the Belt and Road, from which the world will benefit.
China has a population of 1.4 billion and a middle-income group that exceeds 400 million. The vastly huge Chinese market is the most promising in the world. Total import into China is estimated to top 22 trillion US dollars in the coming decade. There’s huge potential for China-Sierra Leone trade and economic cooperation in the coming years. China is always ready to share development opportunities with Sierra Leone and bring more benefit to our two peoples.
