“Wang Yi’s visit was very successful”: Ambassador

The Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Samoa Chao Xiaoliang has stated that the recent visit of China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has enhanced elevated cooperation between China and the Pacific.

Mr. Wang had visited Samoa on the 28th of May, and had visited a few other Pacific island countries after visiting Samoa.

In an interview with Eyespy Radio on Friday, Ambassador Xiaoliang said that Wang Yi's visit was very successful.

"As a State Councilor and Foreign Minister of a big country like China with 1.4 billion population, Mr. Wang Yi's schedule is very busy [...] so he took so many days [...] particularly visit the Pacific Island countries," he told Eyespy Radio.

"This shows that The Chinese Government attach great importance to their relationship with pacific Island countries."

He is of the view that the visit had enhanced the political mutual trust between China and the Pacific island countries and had elevate cooperation in various sectors to a new level.

"The time was very short but was very successful," he said.

During a bilateral meeting that was held during Mr. Wang's visit, three agreements were signed which are the Economic and Technical Agreement, Handover certificate of the Arts & Culture Center and Samoa-China Friendship Park, and the Exchange of Letter for the Fingerprint laboratory.

Ambassador Xiaoliang said that the agreements are not new as similar agreements are signed almost every year.

"This is a new agreement and I think its very good for the cooperation between China and Samoa," he said.

He explained that the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement will help Samoa in terms of implementing projects.

"According to the agreement, the Samoan Government can you use [...] the grant assistance from China to implement projects," he said.

"First step, Samoan Government can propose a project to us, and the Chinese Government can do the feasibility study based on the proposal.

"If the proposal is accepted by both sides then we can implement the project in the future at any time.

"I think this Economic and Technical Cooperation is very important for both sides and will benefit the Samoan people."