Peng Qinghua’s Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Belt and Road Sichuan International Friendship City Cooperation and Development Forum

Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 "Belt and Road" Sichuan International Friendship City Cooperation and Development Forum

(October 15, 2019)

&ensp, Secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Standing Committee of Provincial People’s Congress; Peng Qinghua

On the morning of October 15th, the 2019 "Belt and Road" Sichuan International Friendship City Cooperation and Development Forum with the theme of "Open Cooperation, Mutual Benefit and Win-Win" opened in Chengdu. Peng Qinghua, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.(Reporter   Ouyang Jie   absorb)

Distinguished guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning everyone! It is such a delight to have friends coming so far. Today, more than 300 foreign guests from 32 countries and 43 sister provinces (states) on five continents gathered in the land of abundance and beautiful Rongcheng to attend the 2019 "Belt and Road" Sichuan International Friendship City Cooperation and Development Forum to discuss development plans and seek a better future. Here, on behalf of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, the provincial government and the 91 million people of Sichuan, I would like to extend my sincere welcome to the guests from afar! I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Liaison Department and other relevant departments of the central government, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and friends from all walks of life at home and abroad who have long cared about and supported Sichuan’s development.

In 2013, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader put forward the "Belt and Road" cooperation initiative, which was widely recognized and participated by the international community. By the end of April this year, the China government had signed 187 intergovernmental cooperation documents with 131 countries and 30 international organizations to jointly build the "Belt and Road". The "Belt and Road" countries have been extended from Asia and Europe to Africa, Latin America, South Pacific and other regions, which has effectively promoted profound changes in the global governance system. In the past six years, the "Belt and Road" has changed from concept to action, from vision to reality, and has become a road to peace, prosperity, openness, innovation and civilization, pushing countries along the route to build a community of human destiny. As an important platform for opening to the outside world, an important carrier of urban diplomacy and an important content of people-to-people diplomacy, the international friendship city activities have been expanding in breadth and depth from government to enterprises and from official to people, making positive contributions to enhancing people’s friendship, benefiting local society and developing state relations.

Sichuan is a province with a large population, economy, resources and science and education in China. It is the hometown of Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s reform and opening up, and the hometown of China’s national treasure giant panda. It has five world natural and cultural heritages, such as Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong, Dujiangyan-Qingcheng Mountain, Emei Mountain-Leshan Giant Buddha and giant panda habitat. The ancient Shu civilization represented by Sanxingdui and Jinsha Site has unique charm, tea culture, bamboo culture, wine culture, food culture and so on. The beautiful Bashu cultural tourism treasure is an important business card for Sichuan to communicate with the rest of the world.

In recent years, we have vigorously implemented the strategy of all-round opening-up and cooperation, firmly seized the major opportunity of the "Belt and Road" construction, and promoted the formation of a new three-dimensional all-round opening-up trend of "four-way expansion and global opening-up". The province’s open economy level has been continuously improved and it is accelerating its integration into the world economic integration pattern. We pay more attention to the role of bridges between cities and regions, and constantly expand the "circle of friends" of open cooperation. Sichuan has established friendly relations with 144 provinces and cities in 45 countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, opened regular air routes with 20 sister cities, established scientific research cooperation relations with more than 30 sister cities, a large number of international sister city enterprises have settled in Sichuan, and a large number of Sichuan enterprises have actively "gone global" and invested in more than 30 sister cities. In 2018, the total import and export volume of Sichuan and Friendship City countries reached more than 50 billion US dollars, an increase of more than 30%. Today, Russian king crab, French wine, Japanese Fuji apple, and Central Asian cherries have become delicacies on the table of Sichuan urban and rural residents and tourists. More and more Sichuan tourists go to friendship cities to "punch in" and experience exotic customs. The exchanges between Sichuan and various sister cities are becoming more and more frequent and fruitful.

The theme of this forum is "open cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win", aiming at building a bridge of friendship and expanding opportunities for cooperation. At present, Sichuan is in a critical period of transformation, innovation and leapfrog development. Last year, the province’s total economic output exceeded 4 trillion yuan, an increase of 8%; In the first half of this year, it continued to maintain a rapid growth of 7.9%, showing a strong development trend. Facing the new era, new mission and new task, we actively integrate into the national strategies such as the "Belt and Road" construction, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the development of the western region in the new era, and the new land and sea passage in the west, and strive to build an inland open economic highland and accelerate the leap from a large economic province to a strong one that reflects the requirements of high-quality development. We are willing to further strengthen exchanges with sister cities, and welcome you to deepen cooperation with Sichuan in the fields of modern agriculture, industry, service industry, education, science and technology, culture, tourism, Chinese medicine, environmental protection and youth, and work together to create a better tomorrow.

The world is harmonious but different, and it is a rare opportunity to have a sister-city relationship. Chinese often said, "The closer relatives get, the closer friends get". We warmly welcome all friends to take a walk and have a look in Sichuan, enjoy the mountains and waters, feel the local customs, taste the fine wine and delicacies, and explore opportunities for cooperation. I believe that a beautiful, open, inclusive and energetic Sichuan in generate will definitely leave a deep impression and good memories for everyone.