Foreign news

China’s Xinjiang sees unprecedented development of its society with people better off

Published

4 years ago

September 28, 2020

From 2014 to 2019, overall statistics show that China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen a positive trend in economic development and people’s livelihoods have significantly improved.

Development is the crucial foundation for the region’s long-term stability, said Chinese President Xi Jinping who called for efforts to build a socialist Xinjiang with Chinese characteristics in a new era.

Xi demanded law-based governance and long-term efforts to develop Xinjiang into a region that is united, harmonious, prosperous, and culturally advanced, with healthy ecosystems and people living and working in contentment.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the comments at the two-day third central symposium on work related to Xinjiang, which ended in Beijing on Saturday.

He stressed the need to fully implement the CPC’s policies and strategies on governing Xinjiang, which include governing in accordance with the law and maintaining stability in the region through ethnic solidarity.

Unprecedented progress in economic development

Xinjiang has made great achievements in its social and economic development and different groups of people in the region are having a stronger sense of achievement, happiness and security as their livelihoods significantly improved, Xi said.

Since the last central symposium on work related to Xinjiang, China has been strengthening support to the region both from the central government as well as other regions for helping its economic development, employment, education, healthcare and others.

Xinjiang’s gross domestic product (GDP) has increased from less than 147 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 205 billion U.S. dollars by 2019, with an average yearly increase of 7.2 percent.

In mid-September, China released a white paper titled “Employment and Labor Rights in Xinjiang,” which said that through proactive labor and employment policies, Xinjiang has continuously improved people’s lives and guaranteed and developed their human rights in every field.

Advance poverty eradication

The Chinese president said that poverty eradication in Xinjiang had seen remarkable achievements as by 2019, almost three million people have been lifted out of poverty in the region, roughly one-seventh of its population.

Xi stressed the need to systematically carry out prevention and control work of the pandemic and social and economic development in Xinjiang with a focus on the work of poverty eradication and employment facilitation.

The mechanism for assistance and preventing a return of poverty needs to be improved while the development vitality has to be strengthened to ensure sustainable development after poverty eradication, he added.

All these facts have proved that China’s ethnic work has turned out to be a success regarding the overall improvement of Xinjiang’s development and people’s livelihoods, Xi said, noting that the success is due to the combined results of strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and concerted efforts of the Chinese people.

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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