Mr. Greg Berry, President of PNG-China Business Council,

Mr. Chen Mingde, Vice President of China Oceania Friendship Association,

Honorable Paul Tiensten, Minister for Trade and Industry,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good Evening. I hope that you have enjoyed the dinner. I am so delighted to see many friends, old and new, from the civic and business community of PNG attending this dinner meeting in honor of China Oceania Friendship Association Delegation. Over the years, many friends present tonight have made consistent efforts and contributions to the promotion of mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples and to the development of China-PNG trade and economic relations. I wish to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to you for that, and to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Berry and other committee members of PNG-China Business Council for their great efforts to make this event a great success. Once again, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy, I would like to extend our warm welcome to Vice President Chen and his delegation to visit Papua New Guinea, and hope that they have had a fruitful and successful visit and will enjoy the rest of their stay in Port Moresby.

Tonight, we are honored that Vice President Chen and other members of the delegation briefed us on the functions of China Oceania Friendship Association, China's recent economic development and the scope and operation of their respective companies. I think it is informational and hope that it will help you to know more about China.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Since the establishment of the diplomatic ties between China and Papua New Guinea in 1976, our bilateral relations have made much headway, with frequent high-level exchange of visits, growing trade and economic cooperation and fruitful exchange and cooperation in culture, education, health, military and other fields. The Chinese Government values its friendly relations and cooperation with Papua New Guinea. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Papua New Guinea. We are ready to take this occasion as an opportunity to work with the Government and people of Papua New Guinea and lift our bilateral ties to a higher level.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and PNG and Pacific Island countries at large. A good momentum has been maintained in our bilateral trade and economic cooperation during the past few years, which have become one of the most important and dynamic aspects of our bilateral relationship. PNG has now become the largest trading partner of China in the South Pacific region. The total volume of our bilateral trade reached US$370 million last year, which was a new high in history. With the support of the governments of our two countries, the relevant companies of both sides signed last year an agreement on Ramu Nickel Mine Project with US$670 million investment, which is the largest China's investment project not only in Papua New Guinea but also in the South Pacific Region. Dozens of Chinese companies have established their businesses or offices here in PNG, and more and more businessmen have shown their interest to do trade with the local business community in Port Moresby, Lae, Rabaul, Madang and so on. For a long time, China has done its best to support and assist PNG in its economic and social development with the implementation of a dozen of projects. We will continue to do so as in the past for the benefits of the people of PNG.

Looking ahead, there are great potentials for further expanding trade and economic cooperation between our two countries. It is my belief that strengthening economic cooperation and increasing trade will help improve political relations between our two countries, while a sound and stable political relationship will, in turn, facilitate the growth of trade and economic relations. We should seize every opportunity to expand our cooperation and build up our relationship through more daring efforts. So long as we work together this way, we will ensure a sound and stable China-PNG relationship and will do great service to our peoples. It is my sincere hope that the business communities of both China and PNG will make new contributions for closer China-PNG relations.