(Favored Nursery and Primary School, Lilongwe, 23November 2016)

 

Your ExcellencyDr. Gertrude Mutharika, First Lady of the Republic of Malawi,

Dear Headmaster and teachers,

Boys and girls,

 

Good morning. It is my great pleasure to be here with all of you in this beautiful school. Soon after Her ExcellencyDr. Gertrude Mutharika, First Lady of the Republic of Malawi, briefed me about your school, I always want to pay a visit this school.Now I have to say that I am quite impressed by its splendid outlook and good quality.

 

Over the past years, Her Excellency has devoted herself to the welfare of Malawian people. This school is an clear showcase of the contribution that the First Lady has made to the education of the next generation in this country. I myself admire the commitment of Her Excellency to the development of the country and am looking forward to strengthen our cooperation.

 

   Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malawi in 2007, we have seen strong cooperation between our two countries in various fields. In the field of education, we provide plenty of Chinese Government Scholarship and training opportunities for our Malawian friends. We just sent off about 100 Chinese Government Scholarship winners to China this year. The total number of scholarship recipients, since the diplomatic relations between China and Malawi, has reached 444. Every year, we also send more than 600 Malawians to China for training courses, with all the expenses covered by Chinese Government.

 

As some of you may be aware of, thirty years ago, China and Malawi are at the same stage of development. After 30 years of rapid development, China has become the second largest economy in the world, with the per capita GDP at more than 8000 USD. You are the future of Malawi, I hope you can study hard and make contribution to the development of Malawi.

 

Today , I have also brought some gifts for you, which includes 200 school bags and 10 footballs. I want to assure you that this is just the beginning of our cooperation, and the Chinese Embassy in Malawi will continue to render assistance to you within our capacity.

 

Thank you.