On 4th April, H.E. Ambassador Liu Jin awarded Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship to 30 academically outstanding UTG students. An awarding ceremony was held in the Law Faculty Auditorium at UTG Kanifing campus, attended by UTG Vice Chancellor Prof. Herbert Robinson, Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Momodou Jain, Chinese Dean of UTG Confucius Institute, UTG faculty and management staff, beneficiaries of the scholarship and UTG students.

H.E. Ambassador Liu congratulated the awardees on winning the scholarship, a program that has been implemented annually since 2017 for supporting UTG students’ academic pursuits, and assisting the UTG in fostering The Gambia’s brainpower for achieving national development goals. H.E. Ambassador Liu comprehensively explained the blueprint for China’s development enacted by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), focusing on answering three questions: What is the major task for the Chinese government and people? What does China hope the world and Africa to develop into? What is the future of China-Gambia relations? H.E. Ambassador Liu said that The 20th National Congress of CPC drew up a grand blueprint for building a modern socialist country in all respects and 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 Chinese path to modernization can provide references and options for other developing countries to explore their own paths to modernization. H.E. Ambassador Liu introduced the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road Initiative, the common values of humanity, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative. Reviewing the fruitful results of China-Africa and China-Gambia cooperation in various fields in recent years, H.E. Ambassador Liu said that this year marks the 10th anniversary of principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith and a commitment to the greater good and shared interests proposed by President Xi Jinping. China will continue to uphold these principles and cooperate with The Gambia and other African countries to further deepen cooperation, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and jointly build a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era. H.E. Ambassador Liu encouraged UTG students to continue working hard, and broaden their horizons, make good use of platforms such as the Confucius Institute at the UTG to learn about Chinese culture, and become ambassadors of friendship between China and The Gambia.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Robinson spoke highly of Gambia-China relations and thanked the Chinese government for providing support for the development of The Gambia’s education, especially for providing training and capacity building opportunities for UTG students and faculty. UTG has become an important platform for scientific, educational and cultural exchanges between The Gambia and China, and is willing to contribute to Gambia-China friendship.

Prior to the ceremony, H.E. Ambassador Liu called on Vice Chancellor Prof. Robinson at his office. They exchanged views on further promoting cooperation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Gambia.