Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe celebrates China's National Day

An event to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China has been held at the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe.

Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Huang Ping gives a speech at a National Day Reception held in the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, on Thursday, September 20th, 2018. [Photo: China Plus]

Chinese ambassador Huang Ping says the past 69 years have seen remarkable changes taking place in China, and China is committed to contributing more to the development of the whole world.

"China is now the second economy in the world, contributing over 30 percent to global economic growth annually. China will open wider to the outside world, making more contributions to global development and building a community with a shared future for humanity together with other countries. "

Huang Ping says significant changes have also taken place in China- Africa relations over the years, including China-Zimbabwe relations.

"Politically, our traditional all-weather relationship has been elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation, opening new prospects for our bilateral cooperation in all areas. Pragmatic cooperation has gained visible achievements with lots of mega projects successfully commissioned or taking off. With a new round of 60 billion of financial support pledged by China at the Beijing Summit of FOCAC, Zimbabwe, as China's strategic partner to jointly build the "Belt and Road Initiative", is best placed to gain a fairly big share of the funds."

Zimbabwe's newly appointed Minister of Defence and War Veterans Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri says that besides the close political and economic relations between China and Zimbabwe, the people of the two countries also getting closer.

"We have seen the relationship between the people of China and the people of Zimbabwe growing in all spheres of life. We are seeing more Chinese tourists coming to Zimbabwe. We are seeing also more business people coming to Zimbabwe. And that is contributing immensely to the building of our economy and building stability within our country."

The event also bid farewell to Huang Ping, who has been the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe since October 2015.

The Ambassador says the past three years in Zimbabwe constitute a great chapter in his diplomatic career.

"All that has happened in the past few years was way beyond my initial expectation. With four visits by the highest leaders of our two countries, two FOCAC summits, one peaceful power transition and one general election. I think it is fair to say I am lucky enough to be a "Grand Slam" Ambassador for my eventful and high-powered tenure in Zimbabwe. My diplomatic career in Zimbabwe was truly rich and fulfilling."

Huang Ping is going to work as China's consul general in New York for his upcoming tenure.