Mr. Francis Cooke, Headmaster of Kamuzu Academy,

Chairman and Members of the Board of Trustees,

The academic and administrative staff,

Parents and families of the students,

Dear students, Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning. Indeed, it is my great honor and privilege to join you here to celebrate this year’s Founder’s Day as Guest of Honor. First of all, let me express my warm and sincere congratulations to the Headmaster, the faculty and all the students. I would also like to say thanks to Mr. Francis Cooke for his kind invitation and generous opportunity for me to meet you, the future leaders of Malawi.

As the best learning institution in Malawi for its excellence and high quality in education, Kamuzu Academy has produced many outstanding graduates in the past 28 years. It is known that most of the politicians, architects, doctors, lawyers and teachers serving Malawi today are graduates from Kamuzu Academy. I am fully convinced that guided by the vision of an active pursuit of excellence and high quality education and with its first-class faculty, Kamuzu Academy will not only enjoy the pride you have achieved in the past, but also produce more talent and contribute more to the socio-economic development of Malawi.

Dear Students and Faculty, Ladies and Gentlemen,

China and Malawi are new friends and new partners. Our diplomatic relationship was established less than two years ago. The long time separation between our two countries has caused our two peoples know very little about each other. Therefore, please allow me to take this opportunity to give you a very brief introduction about China.

China is a country both old and young, located in the Far East. She is old, because she is one of the four ancient civilized countries in the world, with a history of over 5000 years’ civilization. The Chinese people has created a splendid civilization and made significant contributions to the progress of humankind. Papermaking, Printing, Gunpowder and Compass were invented in China. But the new China called the People’s Republic of China is young, which was founded 60 years ago, and it is until 1978 that China opened herself to the outside world and started transforming herself from poverty to prosperity.

China is very big but also very small. China has a territory of over 9.6 million square kilometers, 56 nationalities and over 1.32 billion population, representing one fifth of the world total population. China has become the third largest economy and the second largest trading state in the world. But all achievements we have made shared by the huge population become a tiny thing. For example, in 2008, the GDP of China was about 4.4 trillion US dollars, ranking the third in the world, but the per capita GDP was just a little more than 3000 US dollars, ranking behind one hundred countries in the world.

China is still underdeveloped but has a promising future. Now, we still have about 40 million people living in poverty and every year, there are about 20 million newly born babies coming to China. Indeed, China is the largest developing country in the world and has a long way to get stronger. But in the past 30 years, the GDP of China has witnessed an average annual growth rate of 9.88%, the magic we have achieved has never happened in the world . And most importantly, now such a huge population of China has shared a national consensus on where for China to go and how to get there. You can imagine that everything can be possible when the people get united and committed. China definitely has a promising future.

Dear Students and Faculty, Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is no doubt that education is a key for any individual, any nation and any country as well to reach bright future. It is education that changes the destiny of any individual. People can be born in the same village and same country. But because of different levels and qualities of education they get, they have different future and destiny. Whoever completes his or her high level and quality education, he or she will be free to have the bright future. We have no right to choose where to be born, but we have the rights to master our destiny and future, which are in our own hands. The long journey to the great success and the bright future should step forward from education and now on.

Education is also a key to the national development. One of the most important reasons behind the rapid and sustainable development of China is that the Chinese Government attaches great importance to the national education and the Chinese people, rich or poor, from urban or rural areas, always put their kids’ education as No. 1 priority of each family. Since 1986, the Chinese government has been implementing the policy of 9 years compulsory education. Now, in China, there are more than 20 million students studying in the universities and colleges, and another over 20 million students studying in vocational training schools, so every year there are about 11 million graduates from higher learning institutions in China. High quality and efficiency of the people and lower cost of production have attracted many western investors to China for their profitable investments and help China create jobs, increase revenue and sustain economic development.

Dear Students and Faculty, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The world today is undergoing unprecedented changes and adjustment. With the rapid development of economic globalization, the world has become smaller. With interests increasingly interconnected, countries in the world have become more interdependent and interactive. The Cold War mindset of confrontation between the West and the East has no soil and space for its existence and has been replaced by dialogues and win-win cooperation. The common task facing the world today is to jointly fight against poverty for prosperity while maintaining the world peace. Nowadays, no country in the world can achieve development in isolation or seclusion. Opening and win-win cooperation become so fundamental and necessary for the national development of any country.

China had paid very high and precious prices for its closeness. China used to be one of the most powerful countries in the world, but because of its closeness from the outside world, China was left far behind in the modern times and was defeated and humiliated by the western powers. It is until 1978 that China opened herself to the outside world. Unfortunately, all the rules of the games in the world were written in English by the west. China had no choice but to send thousands of students to learn their language and get to know the rules before playing games with them. We are very humble to learn and introduce the market mechanism from the west to drive our economic development. We have succeeded and benefited a lot from our opening policy. Nowadays, China has become one of the major key players in the world, and will unswervingly adhere to the policies of opening and win-win cooperation.

Now, the focus of the world politics and economy are moving gradually from the west to the east. More and more foreign students are going to China for their study. Just some days ago, when His Excellency President Obama of the United States visited China, he declared that the US government will dramatically expand its students to study in China to 100,000 in the next three years.

Dear Students and Faculty, Ladies and Gentlemen,

China is not a perfect and developed country. We are still in the way to fight against poverty for sustainable prosperity. But as a sincere friend and reliable development partner of Africa, China has committed herself to helping Africa achieve self-development.

According to Chinese culture and foreign aid policy, we insist that it is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him fish. Education and human resources development have always been one of the top priorities in the cooperation between China and Africa. In the past three years, China has granted Government Scholarships to over 4000 African students to study in China, and trained 15000 personnel covering various fields from this continent. In the next three years, the Chinese government will increase her Scholarships up to 5500 to this continent and help Africa train not less than 20000 personnel including teachers and headmasters of the schools.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries, China has provided 57 Scholarships to Malawian students to study in China and invited about 300 Malawian to China for their capacity building. In the next years, I am sure China will offer more scholarship to Malawian and invite more Malawian to China. China will also help Malawi build a secondary school and one University in the near future.

With a view to supporting Kamuzu Academy, I am delighted to declare that Mr. Cooke will be invited to visit China next year and some teachers will follow in the future. The Chinese Embassy will provide two Government Scholarships a year to the young teachers or best graduates from this Academy for their degree study in China. The Embassy will also donate three computers to help this Academy expand its internet center, and regularly provide books to set up a Chinese corner in its Library.

Dear students, as the future leaders of Malawi, the responsibility of developing the country is on your shoulders. It is my sincere wish that you will cherish and make good use of the precious time in Kamuzu Academy, open yourself to the outside world, learn more fresh knowledge, not only the culture and history of Malawi, but also the civilization of both the West and the East, get yourselves ready to serve your motherland and your people and jointly fight against poverty for prosperity of Malawi.

Thank you for your attention.