Your Excellency Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi and the First Lady Madam Callista Mutharika,

Mr. Jiang Qingde, President of the Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to attend the Launching Ceremony of the China-Malawi Friendship and Brightness Trip.

First of all, I wish to express my warm welcome to the Chinese medical experts led by Prof. Han Demin, Leader of National Blindness Prevention Group of China and Director of Beijing Tongren Hospital. I also wish to thank the Bingu Silver Grey Foundation, the Ministry of Health of Malawi and the Kamuzu Central Hospital for the thoughtful arrangements they have made.

The American educator Helen Keller in her famous essay “Three Days to See” wrote that, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight, particularly those who have lost sight in adult life.

With sight, people can enjoy the beauties of the world of Nature, the blue sky, the colorful flowers and see the faces of their beloved. However, many people have lost their sight due to eye diseases. Their life fell into darkness. According to the statistics of WHO, about 314 million people are blind or visually impaired worldwide, the major contributor is cataract. In Malawi, cataract is also a public problem seriously threatening the health of Malawian people.

In 2003, the Chinese Government launched the “Brightness Trip” program, which is aimed at assisting cataract patients to restore sight through ophthalmic treatment, and awaking people’s awareness on cataract prevention. And I am glad that today we are going to launch the “China-Malawi Friendship and Brightness Trip” in Malawi.

This “Brightness Trip” to Malawi is initiated by H.E. President Bingu wa Mutharika and the First Lady Madame Callista Mutharika during their visit to China this year. The Chinese Government strongly backed this idea as we believe that enjoying brightness is an important part of human rights, and this is a good opportunity to show Chinese people’s friendly sentiment to our Malawian brothers and sisters.

The Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group, which is well-known in Malawi as the contractor of the New Parliament Building, has provided financial support and done a lot of preparation work for this Trip. I also wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciations to the Group.

During their stay in Malawi, Prof. Han Demin and his colleagues will do free surgeries to 500 cataract patients at Kamuzu Central Hospital. Actually, they started the operations immediately after they arrived in Malawi on November 19.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This “Brightness Trip” to Malawi will only last one week. In the future, we will continue to join the efforts of Malawian Government in preventing and eradicating cataract in Malawi.

First, we have sent a medical team consisting of 17 members to Malawi. The Chinese doctors are working at Kamuzu Central Hospital and Mzuzu Central Hospital respectively. Next year, the medical team will have a rotation of personnel. If the Malawian side requests, we can consider sending ophthalmologists to Malawi in the future.

Second, we can also help Malawi train its own ophthalmologists by inviting Malawian doctors to attend training courses or by providing scholarships to them to study in China in the future.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Next month, we will celebrate the third anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. Three years ago, H.E. President Mutharika sent a high level delegation to China for a brightness trip, which ended the 41 years abnormal relations between our two countries, and removed the “cataract” on the eyes of our two peoples. The two peoples began to see each other with a clearer sight.

Since then, the mutual understanding between our two peoples has been deepened, and the people-to-people exchanges have been further expanded. The friendship between China and Malawi has struck deep roots in the hearts of our two peoples.

I am full of confidence that, with the efforts of both sides, the China-Malawi friendly relations will have a bright future and bring more benefits to our two peoples.

Finally, I wish the China-Malawi Friendship and Brightness Trip a great success.

Thank you.