Mr. James Ali, Acting PS of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Francis Cooke, Headmaster of Kamuzu Academy,

Dear teachers and students of the academy,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning. (Mwadzuka bwanji?)

It is my great pleasure to come to the beautiful campus of Kamuzu Academy, and hold the “China Day” function together with all of you present here. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malawi nearly 8 years ago, this is the first time that the Chinese Embassy holds this kind of function. The reasons why we chose Kamuzu Academy are as follows.

First of all, the function is fully supported and welcomed by Mr. Cooke and all the other board members as well as the teachers and students of the Academy. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of you.

Secondly, the Academy was set up by former president H.E. Kamuzu Banda. It is a precious legacy that the former president left to Malawi. With decades of development, the Academy has become one of the top schools in Malawi and even the African continent. It has trained a large number of social elites for Malawi, and has been viewed as the Eton College in Malawi, even in Africa. As Mr. Cooke put it, Kamuzu Academy is the best gift that President Kamuzu Banda left to the People and leaders of Malawi. Hence holding the function here is significantly meaningful.

Thirdly, the Academy teaches several foreign languages including Chinese. The Chinese side has sent two teachers teaching the Chinese language here. With years of efforts, many students have learned Chinese and gained knowledge of China. They have shown keen interest on China, longing for more access to Chinese language and culture. Today’s function will help the students and the Malawian people know more about China.

Lastly, through the function, we will establish a mechanism to strengthen the educational exchanges between China and Malawi, so as to better serve the healthy and smooth development of our bilateral relations. Therefore, in today’s function, we have set up pavilions displaying Chinese art, culture, food, etc. We have also arranged performances and interesting games so that everybody can appreciate the charm of Chinese culture while having a lot of fun. And of course, we also will interact with the students and teachers here so that we can learn and get better know each other. I hope all of you would enjoy the program and participate actively.

As a country with more than 5000 years of history and civilization, China has attached great importance to education since ancient times. In the modern times, apart from developing its own educational sector, China has started to provide opportunities of higher education to the excellent students of many countries including Malawi. Since the establishment of our bilateral ties, China has provided government scholarship to more than 20 students from Kamuzu Academy. This September, another 4 students from here will go to China to pursue their further studies. I hope they will to cherish this valuable opportunity as the previous students did, and try everything to acquire more knowledge and improve their skills, so that after graduation, they could make their own contributions to the social and economic development of Malawi.

With the rapid development of China, the Chinese language has been considered more and more important internationally, and its importance has been realized by most countries in the world. Learning Chinese has become a new trend and new fashion. In order to help the Malawian students better master the language, the Chinese Hanban has sent 7 Chinese teachers to Malawi, among whom 2 of them have been working here. Through their own efforts, the two teachers introduced the Chinese language and culture to their students and arouse their interest in China. Their hard work has been unanimously appraised by the Academy, their colleagues and their students. Today’s function has also been greatly supported and facilitated by them. At this moment, please allow me to say thank you to the two teachers.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has not been long since China and Malawi started the diplomatic relations, yet the cooperation and exchanges in almost all areas have been developing rapidly. The cooperation between the Kamuzu Academy and the Embassy will also be on a new page. Today, I have brought some office appliance and sports goods to donate to the Academy. I hope these equipment will contribute in a small way to the development of the Academy.

Last but not least, I hope everyone could spend a nice “China Day” by tasting and appreciating the Chinese culture. I also hope one day you could visit China to have an in-depth understanding of this ancient and modern country.

Thank you. （Zikomo!）