Jamaica urged to take advantage of China’s US$4b development fund

Chen Daojiang, Chinese ambassador to Jamaica, is encouraging the Jamaica and its people to join what his country calls ‘the group of friends’ of its Global Development Initiative (GDI).

In September 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed the GDI at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and called for the international community to accelerate implementation of the 2030 sustainable development goals for stronger, greener, and healthier global advancement.

“China has set up a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund with a total funding of US$4 billion, and Chinese financial institutions will soon set up a special fund of US$10 billion dedicated to the implementation of the GDI. The GDI project pool has included more than 200 projects,” Daojiang said when expressing his reasoning behind the call.

“Now, the initiative has gained support from more than 100 countries and international organisations, and the group of friends of the GDI now has more than 80 members, some of which are countries from this region.

“GDI is highly consistent with Jamaica’s ‘Vision 2030’ and meets with the most urgent development need of developing countries. China welcomes Jamaica to join the group of friends of the GDI and is ready to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation under the framework, inject strong impetus for Jamaica’s socio-economic development, and help Jamaica better achieve the goal of ‘Reigniting a nation for Greatness’,” he said.

The ambassador was speaking during a media briefing recognising his second anniversary in the post at the Chinese Embassy in Jamaica yesterday.

“In March 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the concept to build a community with a shared future for mankind as China’s proposition to collectively address global challenges and forge a better future for humanity. President Xi further pointed out [that] to reach more consensus and to enhance the guidance of a community with a shared future for mankind, it is necessary to build an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation,” Daojiang said.

“Jamaica’s national motto, Out of Many, One People, fully shows the integration, equal co-existence and harmony of different races and nationalities. It perfectly matches with the core of a community with a shared future for mankind. China is willing to contribute efforts together with Jamaica to build to the community with a shared future for China and Jamaica,” he said.

Daojiang also outlined the major achievements so far between Jamaica and China since the latter’s nationals came to the Caribbean territory.

The trade volume between China and Jamaica in 2023 was US$1.28 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25.8 per cent. China continues to be Jamaica’s second largest trading partner. Chinese companies have invested in Jamaica for more than 20 years, with a cumulative investment of more than US$2.1 billion and direct creation of 40,000-plus jobs.

Additionally, for 2024, China has already arranged for 42 Jamaican trainees to attend training in China. In the future, three bilateral training seminars will be arranged exclusively for Jamaica, and more than 100 Jamaican trainees will soon go to China.

In looking towards the future, Daojiang believes that the two countries have great potential for cooperation in trade and investment, new energy, agriculture and fisheries, digital economy, the blue economy, and other fields.

“The friendship has become stronger over time, and the people-to-people exchanges are close and frequent. More than 10 important delegations, including ones led by the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, visited Jamaica, and more than 300 Jamaicans from different sectors visited China,” Daojiang said.

“China continues to carry out the Chinese Government Scholarship project to fund Jamaican students to study in China. The embassy continues to provide Chinese Ambassador Scholarship to Jamaican universities, with the number of total places increased from 20 to 32. The Confucius Institute at The UWI (University of the West Indies), Mona Campus and Chinese communities in Jamaica have actively organised various Chinese cultural activities on the occasion of major festivals,” he said.

During his presentation, Daojiang also outlined what he said were five innovative measures being taken in building the relationship between the two nations in 2024, including the provision of awards, celebration, facilitation, sports cooperation, and Chinese language education.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com

Five measures for building the China-Jamaica relationship in 2024

Provision of awards:The embassy will carefully select: a. Community-level local entities that are friendly to China and focus on Jamaican people’s livelihood, and award them the Honorary Title of Family of China-Jamaica Friendship. b. Jamaican individuals who have made outstanding contributions to promoting China-Jamaica friendship, and award them the Award of China-Jamaica Friendship.

Celebration: This year marks the 170th anniversary of the arrival of first Chinese in Jamaica. From July to October, a grand celebration will be held on occasion of this anniversary.

Facilitation: China continues to simplify the visa application process, temporarily exempt qualified applicants from fingerprint collection and offer a 25 per cent discount on visa fees. China has recently introduced measures to improve payment convenience, which greatly enhances the consumption experience of foreigners in China. In addition, the embassy has implemented a visa appointment-free policy.

Sports cooperation: China is about to resume the China-Jamaica sports coaching cooperation programme that was previously disrupted by the pandemic. One hundred and thirty eight Jamaican athletes will leave for China to receive a 60-day systematic training in swimming, gymnastics, badminton, women’s volleyball and women’s basketball.

Chinese language education: The China-Foreign Language Exchange and Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Education of China will strengthen cooperation in Chinese language education with Jamaican universities. It is expected that agreements will be signed within this year, and more professional Chinese teachers will come to Jamaica to teach systematic Chinese courses.