The Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone has on the 24th September 2021 hosted the first “Information Salon” online meeting on Zoom.
The meeting was attended by Ambassador Hu Zhangliang and the staff of the Embassy, the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. Solomon Jamiru, Dr. Brima Kapuwa, Political Adviser to President Bio, Representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labour, SLAJ and journalists from various media institutions.
In his statement at the meeting, Amb. Hu said that the Information Salon will serve as a platform that would close the information gap between China and Sierra Leone and provide real information that would dispel certain western media propaganda. He pointed out that this year has been remarkable for China and China Sierra Leone relationship. On the side of China, he said this year marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Conversely, this year again China and Sierra Leone marked the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries. Amb. Hu went on to note that both countries have gone through the thick and thin and that the two countries have always treated each other with mutual respect.
He said China will continue to work with international ccommunities to make the world a better place. He said China will provide 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine this year to the other parts of the world and that China has already provided USD$100 million towards the fight against COVID-19 globally.
Solomon Jamiru, the Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said in the meeting that Sierra Leone People’s Party has a very good friendly relations with CPC and that as government officials they have closely followed the statement made by President Xi Jinping at the United Nations General Assembly meeting where President Xi made a commitment to help developing countries more especially in Africa.
He said China was the first country to help Sierra Leone with Covid-19 vaccine and that when Sierra Leone registered its first Covid-19 case in March 2020, the country had only 30 bed capacity dedicated to the Covid fight and the Chinese government provided Sierra Leone with plenty of much-needed material assistance.
He said as the World Health Organization (WHO) investigates the origin of the Covid-19 virus, the origin should not be anchored on current geo-political rivalry but on the evidence of science.
Highlighting some of the infrastructural contributions by China to Sierra Leone, Mr. Jamiru pointed out the ongoing construction of the Foreign Service Academy, the just completed five storey Officer’s Quarter at 34 Military Barrack in Wilberforce as an epitome of a true friendship between China and Sierra Leone.
Dr. Brima Kapuwa, Political Adviser to President Bio, thanked the entire Chinese team in Sierra Leone for such a great initiative and extended his sincere thanks to all those Sierra Leoneans in China who have shown full Commitment towards the friendship between the two countries.
He expressed the government’s commitment towards the bilateral relationship with China and explained the priority areas where government has made tremendous gains including education and the health sector.
Mr. Kapuwa noted that China has shown true friendship by standing firm with Sierra Leone during Ebola and in this current Pandemic of Covid-19 by providing hospital equipment, bringing in medics from China to revamp the efforts of Sierra Leone’s fight against Covid-19. He expressed gratitude for the USD$ 55million fish habour in Sierra Leone which is sponsored by China. He further stressed on the relationship between Sierra Leone and China as a win- win system where both parties have benefited from each other.
Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy, Hu Aimin made a power point presentation of the gains made by China over the years. The event was climaxed by questions and comments from journalists and other participants of the meeting.
