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Meets UNESCO DG
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
Emomali, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, is on a state visit to China.
In his remarks, President Xi congratulated Tajikistan on the 35th anniversary of its independence and on the major achievements of its national development.
Xi noted that steadfast mutual support is the defining feature of China-Tajikistan relations.
The Chinese President also said that, no matter how the external environment evolves, China and Tajikistan will remain good neighbours looking out for each other, good friends sharing candour and mutual trust, and good partners pursuing joint development.
“The signing of the China-Tajikistan Treaty on Permanent Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation will fully demonstrate the high-level political mutual trust between the two countries and provide a solid underpinning for China-Tajikistan everlasting friendship. China stands ready to work with the Tajik side to build an even closer China-Tajikistan community with a shared future and deliver greater benefits to the people of the two countries,” Xi said.
Xi further said China will, as always, support Tajikistan in following a development path suited to its national conditions and in upholding national independence, sovereignty and security.
“This year, China begins the implementation of its 15th Five-Year Plan. Tajikistan is also advancing its National Development Strategy for the period up to 2030.
“The two sides should focus on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and further align their development strategies to support the pursuit of their respective development goals.
“The two sides should build on the strong momentum of economic and trade cooperation, tap into greater cooperation potential, and enhance both the scale and quality of trade and investment.
“The two sides should guarantee the implementation of major projects and expand cooperation on green energy, digital economy, smart city and artificial intelligence to further boost sci-tech innovation.
“The two sides should deepen people-to-people exchanges and cultivate a new model of sub-national cooperation to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
“The two sides should also step up law enforcement and security cooperation and resolutely crack down on the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism to jointly uphold regional stability,” Xi stated.
He further said China welcomed Tajikistan as a new signatory to the IOMed Convention and stands ready to strengthen cooperation under the UN, the SCO, the China-Central Asia mechanism and other frameworks to promote true multilateralism and work for the building of a more just and equitable global governance system.
Responding, President Rahmon noted that the Tajikistan-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era is deepening.
He also said cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, transportation and agriculture has produced fruitful results, as major projects are proceeding smoothly and people-to-people exchanges have grown closer, bringing benefits to the people of both countries.
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“The signing of the Tajikistan-China Treaty on Permanent Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation today brings bilateral relations into a new historical stage and will open up new prospects for long-term cooperation between the two countries.
“Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and Tajikistan firmly adheres to the one-China principle. Tajikistan looks forward to working with China to strengthen practical cooperation in such areas as critical minerals, artificial intelligence and sci-tech innovation, facilitate mutual personnel visits, enhance educational exchanges and promote greater development of bilateral relations.
“The Global Governance Initiative put forward by President Xi is of great significance to the world. Tajikistan highly appreciates China’s unremitting efforts to promote the political settlement of international hotspot issues and its important role in easing the situation in the Middle East. Tajikistan is ready to strengthen multilateral cooperation with China and jointly combat the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism and transnational crimes to maintain regional stability,” he said.
Following the talks, the two heads of state signed and issued the Treaty between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Tajikistan on Permanent Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation and the Joint Statement between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Tajikistan on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the New Era.
The two heads of state also witnessed the signing of more than 10 cooperation documents in areas such as party-to-party exchanges, economy, trade and investment, artificial intelligence, green mining and media.
During the visit, the two sides also signed more than 10 cooperation documents in areas including agriculture, culture, education, housing development, inspection and quarantine, and market supervision.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday received in audience the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Khaled El-Enany, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
During the meeting, President Xi noted that UNESCO has made important contributions to greater understanding and trust among peoples and to exchanges and mutual learning among civilisations, and has played a proactive role in reforming and improving global governance on education, science and culture.
He said that China actively supports the work of UNESCO, and that the two sides have done many things for safeguarding world peace and promoting global development.
Xi also expressed China’s readiness to deepen strategic cooperation with UNESCO to better benefit people in all countries.
President Xi emphasised that the world’s prevailing trend of peace, development, cooperation and win-win interactions remains unchanged, but that, with the resurgence of the Cold War mentality, hegemonism and unilateralism, global governance has come to a new fork in the road.
He underlined that China is committed to practising true multilateralism, supports and upholds the authority of the United Nations, and supports UNESCO in playing an important role in global governance.
He said that China is ready to work with UNESCO to implement the four global initiatives, enable people in all countries to share in progress in education, science and culture, better respond to the common challenges facing human society, and jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity.
The Chinese President stressed the need for the two sides to deepen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), open science and digital education, advocate respect for the diversity of civilisations, promote mutual respect and harmonious coexistence among different civilisations, strengthen cooperation with Global South countries, and promote cultural heritage preservation as well as cultural exchanges and mutual learning.
On his part, El-Enany said that it was an honour to visit China for the first time as Director-General of UNESCO.
The UNESCO chief also said that he hoped to bring all member states together, promote dialogue, cooperation, mutual understanding and mutual learning among cultures, and build a UNESCO for the people.
“Expressing his thanks to China for the long-term, strong support to UNESCO, Director-General El-Enany said that President Xi’s important speech in 2014 at the organisation is still resonating today. He said that UNESCO looks forward to strengthening coordination with China to improve global educational and cultural development, promote exchanges in science and technology, deepen cooperation on AI, jointly implement the four global initiatives, and bring greater benefits to humanity,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
