Foreign news

Highlights: 19th CPC Central Committee holds press conference on fifth plenary session

Published

4 years ago

October 30, 2020

The 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in a Press conference on Friday to introduce the guiding principles of its fifth plenary session. The four-day session concluded on Thursday with the release of a communique.

Here are some highlights of the press conference:

The agenda of the session have all been completed, said Wang Xiaohui, executive deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Social and Economic Development (2021-2025) and Long-Range Objectives for 2035 were adopted during the session, said Wang, calling it the most important outcome of the session.

This is the first time that China has set long-term objectives for the country to achieve socialist modernization by 2035, according to the official.

The drafting of the proposals, which consists of three parts and 15 chapters in total, has followed five principles, said Han Wenxiu, deputy director of the Office of the Central Economic and Financial Affairs Commission.

The principles include balancing the relationship between inheritance and innovation, government and market, opening-up and independence, development and security, as well as between strategy-making and operational tactics, according to Han.

Double development dynamic

The concept of double development dynamic emphasizes both domestic and international circulations, Han said.

It takes the domestic market as the mainstay and allows domestic and foreign markets to boost each other.

Focusing on the internal market is by no means a downgrade of opening-up, instead, the pattern aims to promote a higher level of opening-up by using two resources and two markets, said Han.

China-U.S. ties

“As the two largest economies in the world, the economic ties between China and the United States are determined by the complementary of their economic structures and the openness of the global economy,” Han said.

A complete decoupling between the two countries is unrealistic and will not benefit either nation as well as the world, said Han.

China will promote high-level opening-up to provide more opportunities for the rest of the world, Han told reporters.

Technological innovation

Talking about technological innovation, the Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang told reporters that China has not and will never close its doors.

China is willing to hold international dialogues on sci-tech innovation with other countries.

The country will focus on climate change, energy resources, and public health and other global issues, strengthening intellectual property protection and providing better conditions for overseas talent.

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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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