Foreign news

President Xi Jinping Sounded Clarion Call To APEC Members

Published

4 years ago

July 18, 2021

Editor’s note: Yuan Sha is an assistant research fellow at the Department of American Studies, China Institute of International Studies. A former Fulbright scholar at Columbia University, she has a PhD in International Politics from China Foreign Affairs University. Yuan has published several papers on China-U.S. security relations in Chinese academic journals and is a regular contributor for many Chinese media outlets. The article reflects the author’s opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

At the first-ever Informal Economic Leaders’ Retreat of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated China’s commitment to cooperate with APEC members to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate global economic recovery, which would inject strong confidence to the APEC members to weather through the storm and shape a better future for the Asia-Pacific community.

APEC in a time of challenges and opportunities

Just as President Xi said, the Asia Pacific region is the major engine for world economic growth. The 21 APEC member economies around the Pacific represent approximately 40 percent of the world’s population and 60 percent of the world’s GDP, which highlights the region’s status in the world. The APEC community is also the most dynamic region in the world. It is home to the most-developed and least-developed economies and a place where the West meets the East. Through vibrant trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges, these diverse economies and cultures are interconnected as a community of shared futures.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the region. Within the APEC community, over 50 million cases of COVID-19 and over one million deaths have been reported, the aggregate GDP contracted by 1.9 percent in 2020, which is the biggest decline since World War II, with 81 million jobs lost.

To make matters worse, the region is witnessing a glaring gap between haves and have-nots. Some countries are quick in vaccinating the population and restarting the economy, while others are scrambling for vaccines, suffering from recurrent surges of infections and lagging behind in economic recovery. Less developed countries are also afflicted with rising poverty, food shortages, environmental degradation, as well as threats of terrorism. Such a grim picture of a “two-track pandemic” warned by World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is making a stark contrast in the region.

Due to the cross-border nature of the pandemic and the inter-dependency among the economies, it is in the common interests and moral duty of APEC members to devise a common solution to better respond to the public health crisis and facilitating a speedy and balanced economic recovery. It is also an opportunity for APEC to forge solidarity among different players and build a stronger organization to better meet future demands.

As an integral member of the APEC community, China has made exceptional contributions to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. China has served as a timely and trustworthy provider of face masks, vaccines and personal protective equipment to the region and the world at large.

In the meeting, President Xi reiterated his pledge to deepen international COVID-19 vaccine cooperation and make the vaccine a global public good. China has already provided 500 million vaccines to over 100 developing countries. China recently reached an agreement with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) to provide Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines through COVAX facilities, which will further boost the quick and equitable distributions of vaccines across the region. President Xi declared that China would provide an additional $3 billion worth of international aid to support developing countries in their fight against the COVID-19 and economic recoveries. China’s prompt and concrete actions have made enormous contributions to improve the accessibility and affordability of the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

President Xi also committed to promoting world economic recovery, by pledging to “deepen regional economic integration”, “pursue inclusive and sustainable development” and “seize opportunities from scientific and technological innovation.” As the only major economy which achieved growth in 2020, China has acted as the anchor for the world economy. In the first half of 2021, China’s GDP expanded 12.7 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which would provide greater impetus to the regional economic recovery.

In his closing remarks, President Xi quoted the New Zealand idiom “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you” as a way to sound the rallying call to the APEC members to step up collective effort to overcome the current challenges and move toward the Putrajaya Vision 2040 for “strong, balanced, secure, sustainable, and inclusive growth.”

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

2 weeks 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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