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Written Speech by H.E. Ambassador Liu Xinsheng at the Lunch of Cyprus-China Business Association

2013-01-25 14:56:00
 

It’s my pleasure to attend this event, to meet again all the friends from Cyprus-China Business Association. First of all, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Cyprus-China Business Association for your active effort to advance trade and economic ties between our countries.

Before my departure, I Googled the Chinese characters for “Cyprus” and there came out more than 11.7 million results. They included descriptions about “the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love in Greek mythology”, “a pearl on the Mediterranean Sea” and of course “property & permanent residence”. This reflects a strong interest among Chinese people in Cyprus.

Since the establishment of the diplomatic relations in 1971, the relations between China and Cyprus have been steadily developed. Our two countries share deepening political mutual trust and have mutual understanding and support on each other’s major concerns. Our pragmatic cooperation is expanding continuously. People of our two countries have forged sincere friendship based on mutual understanding and trust. For the Chinese people, Cyprus, far in the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, is a trustworthy friend.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the cooperation between China and this friend and would like to make joint efforts with the Cypriot side to further strengthen the traditional friendship between our two countries, to enhance the exchanges at all levels, to strengthen our cooperation in economy and trade, humanity and tourism, to maintain communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, and to create together a even brighter future of the friendly cooperation between China and Cyprus.

In the year of 2012, in face of the increasingly complicated and severe international situation and arduous tasks of domestic reform, development and stability, China followed the general tone of making progress while ensuring the stability by strengthening and improving macro control with emphasis on stabilizing growth. As a result, the overall national economic performance was getting stabilized, and the economic and social development realized a stabilized and accelerated development.

According to the preliminary accounting, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 51,932.2 billion yuan in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 7.8 percent at comparable prices.The value added of the primary industry was 5,237.7 billion yuan, up by 4.5 percent; the secondary industry 23,531.9 billion yuan, up by 8.1 percent; and the tertiary industry 23,162.6 billion yuan, up by 8.1 percent. The gross domestic product of the fourth quarter of 2012 went up by 2 percent on a quarterly basis.

China's total foreign trade volume in 2012 reached more than 3.86 trillion U.S. dollars, growing by 6.2 percent year on year. The growth rate is 16.3 percentage points less than 2011. China will still face a hostile foreign trade environment as a result of sluggish demand, increasing production costs, fewer orders and trade protectionism.

Trade with Europe, China's biggest trade partner, declined 3.7 percent year on year in 2012. But with Cyprus,according to the latest statistics.The total trade volume in 2012 between China and Cyprus is 1.2 billion USD ,increased 5.4 percent year on year in 2012.The import from Cyprus to China in 2012 is 119 million Euro,increased 351.6 percent year on year.

In 2012, an increasing number of Chinese people have shown interest in Cyprus. They have become aware of the fact that Cyprus is an ideal place for investment, recreation and living. Close cooperation between China and Cyprus in the field of tourism and real estate can be expected in 2013.

China and world will be all the more interconnected in the 21st century, a century of peace, cooperation and development. We believe that China’s development benefits from reform, opening up and its mutually-beneficial cooperation with countries across the world. China’s future destiny has become increasingly connected with that of the world. China has declared to the rest of the world on many occasions that it takes a path of peaceful development and is committed to upholding world peace and promoting common development and prosperity for all countries. Peaceful development is a strategic choice made by China to realize modernization, make itself strong and prosperous, and make more contribution to the progress of human civilization. China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development.

My dear friends,I would like to reiterate the importance of your contribution to the development of the bilateral relationship between China and Cyprus. And I wish you all the success! Thank you.

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