Chinese ambassador to NZ hails bilateral cooperation, stresses multilateralism

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- China and New Zealand had given invaluable support to each other in the past years, and can foster new growth engines in health care, economy and climate change, said Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Wu Xi at the China Business Summit 2021 on Monday.

Delivering her keynote speech to the summit, Wu Xi talked about the long history of friendship between China and New Zealand.

"The Chinese people will always remember old friends such as Rewi Alley, Kathleen Hall and James Bertram, for their contribution to China's revolution and construction. Thanks to concerted efforts by both sides, our relations have maintained healthy and stable development for a long time. We have offered each other invaluable support in fields such as pandemic prevention and economic revitalization, and maintained sound coordination and cooperation in international affairs," said Wu.

The protocol on upgrading the FTA will create new prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation, she said, adding that with the improvement of development quality and the scale of the Chinese economy, China and New Zealand can actively explore and foster new growth drivers in health, aged care, education, e-commerce, climate change, science and technology and other fields.

The ambassador reiterated multilateralism and global cooperation in the post COVID-19 era.

"The pandemic has proven once again that all mankind is a whole and shares common well-being and woe. The only way out is to uphold true multilateralism and build a community with a shared future for mankind," said Wu.

She also talked about China's development strategy at the summit.

"Today, China contributes about 30 percent to world economic growth. China has had complete victory in eliminating extreme poverty, making a genuine contribution to global poverty alleviation," she said.

"We will base ourselves on a new stage of development, follow a new philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, foster a new development paradigm, promote high-quality development in an all-round way, and work with other countries to build an open, inclusive, sustainable and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity", said Wu.

The China Business Summit is an annual summit attended by political leaders, industrial representatives and academia to reflect on New Zealand-China bilateral relations.