Zhou Jian, Ambassador of China to Qatar, during a press meet at his residence on Thursday. Baher Amin / The Peninsula
The strong ties between Qatar and China have reached a historical point with several opportunities to further enhance the bilateral relations, said Zhou Jian, the Chinese Ambassador to Qatar on Thursday.
“China is building upon its strong ties with Qatar in several areas including trade, investment in free zone, tourism, culture, and sport. We would like to work closely with our Qatari counterparts to deepen our cooperation in all fields,” said Jian.
“Since my arrival in Qatar, I have strongly felt that the bilateral relation between Qatar and China remains strong despite the diplomatic crisis. Under the wise leadership of H H the Amir, the Qatari people are working hard against the blockade and building a strong economy. I can feel their admiration and respect to His Highness. We are happy to see that Qatar has gained great development not only in industry but also in agriculture, achieving greater self-sufficiency, and is actively committing to National Vision 2030 towards an advanced country of achieving sustainable development, competitiveness and a high standard of living,” said Jian, who assumed as the Chinese ambassador to Qatar in July.
“As the largest market in the world with 1.4 billion population, I believe that there’s strategic opportunity for both countries to deepen economic cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiatives. We could connect the Belt and Road Initiatives and Qatar National Vision 2030 together, to enhance the pragmatic cooperation in energy, investment , free zone and other areas to bring more benefit for people of both countries,” he added.
The envoy highlighted the plans to establish a Chinese Cultural Centre and the Confucius Academy in Qatar and opportunities in field of sport and tourism.
“China is a strategic partner in terms of people-to-people exchanges. Once completed, the Chinese Cultural Centre and the Confucius Academy will profoundly enrich the relations between our two countries. Our workers are fighting against time at the Lusail Stadium and other World Cup projects. Qatar and China also hails a sound relation in sports cooperation. In February of 2022, China will hold the 24th Winter Olympic Games. We can share our experience of holding major sport events,” said Jian.
In regard of tourism, we signed a tourism cooperation agreement in 2017, and a mutual visa exemption agreement in 2018. Chinese tourists visiting Qatar reached 63 thousand during 2018, increasing by 38% year on year. Qatar has gained wide-spread popularity on the Chinese internet, and I am confident that there will be skyrocketing number of Chinese people choosing the charming Qatar in their future trip plans,” he added.
Jian said that the Qatar pavilion at the Beijing Horticulture Expo has seen great success and 1.8 million have visited till now. He also expressed high expectations for the Horticulture Expo 2021 scheduled to be held in Qatar.
The Chinese Embassy will host a reception today (Sunday) to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China. Jian highlighted achievements of the Chinese people and government over the past 70 years. The envoy stressed that in the past 70 years, China’s comprehensive national strength has achieved a historic leap to become the world’s second largest economy.
