Honorable Dr. George Simataa,

Vice President Amb. Li Jie,

Executive Directors and all the senior government officials of Namibia,

Acting Executive Director Mr. Sankwasa Mubita,

Associate Professor Liu Haifang,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

I have the great pleasure and honor to attend this seminar on China’s Governance Reforms hosted by Nipam. I’m particularly honored that Hon. Dr. Simataa joined us out of his busy schedule and delivered us a wonderful speech. I also want to express my deep appreciation to all the Executive Directors from various Ministries and other senior government officials of Namibia for their participation. I thank all of you, distinguished guests, for your interest in China’s governance reforms.

This event is of special meaning for me because my good friend and former colleague Amb. Li Jie, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, and his delegation are with us today. Before I was appointed Ambassador to Namibia, I also worked in this Institute as a Vice President in charge of northern American and Oceanian affairs. Our office rooms are next to each other, and to me, he is just like an elder brother. I thank Nipam for bringing us together again.

It was several weeks ago that I first met Mr. Sankwasa Mubita and his colleagues and we had a very good discussion on a lot of issues. I was deeply impressed through our conversation by the important role Nipam plays in capacity building of the public administration and management of Namibia. I especially admire Nipam’s global vision and openness. It seems to me that, under the leadership of Hon. Dr. Simataa, the professional team of Nipam has the whole world in their mind when they are thinking about the issues here in Namibia. I am sure they’re not only studying the case of China’s governance, but also that of many other countries.

Actually, in China, we’re doing the same thing every day. We have never stopped learning from the experience of other countries. In my view, China started its reform and opening-up 45 years ago exactly by learning from other countries. It was through such kind of learning that we have opened our eyes to the whole world and come to know what we should do to improve ourselves. Without learning from other countries, we would not be able to achieve such enormous success of social and economic development.

Learning is important, but if learning leads to simply copying the experience of other countries, eventually it may put us in the wrong direction. According to our experience, if a country wants to develop itself, it must adopt a development path suited to its own national conditions.

Fortunately for the Chinese nation, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, we have found such a development path, that is, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Also fortunately, in the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we have always kept pace with the times, and advanced theoretical innovation to ensure that the causes of the Party and the country will be pushed forward consistently under the guidance of scientific theories.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Chinese Communists, with Comrade Xi Jinping as their chief representative, have given shape to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which is a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times and has become a guiding ideology that must be held in the long term by the Party and the country.

The 20th National Congress of the CPC has proposed advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. Chinese modernization is socialist modernization pursued under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.

The above subjects I touched are all grand topics. I will not talk about them in details today, since my task here is to introduce our two speakers. I believe Vice President Amb.Li Jie and Associate Professor Liu Haifang will provide you with more information and insights.

Vice President Amb. Li is not only a seasoned diplomat, but also a very experienced government and Party official at the provincial level in the past. He was once serving the important position as the Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Committee in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Associate Professor Liu Haifang is not only an expert on African affairs, but also has rich knowledge on China’s domestic issues. I’m very glad to know she has been to Namibia before.

In conclusion, I wish to emphasize that Namibia is a country with huge potential for development and I sincerely believe that Namibia will achieve even greater successes in the future.

    I just stop here and wish every one of you good health and this seminar a complete success.

Thank you.