China has extended congratulations to Jeremiah Manele on his election as new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
Manele was elected new prime minister by members of the parliament in a 31-to-18 vote, Governor General of the Solomon Islands David Vunagi announced on Thursday.
"China congratulates former Foreign Minister Manele on his election as Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands. We believe that under his leadership, the socioeconomic development of the Solomon Islands will continue to make new achievements. In the past five years since China and the Solomon Islands established diplomatic relationship, bilateral relations have maintained a sound development momentum, and exchanges and cooperation in various fields have been fruitful, benefiting both countries and peoples. The Chinese government attached great importance to China-Solomon Islands relations and stands ready to work with the new government of the Solomon Islands led by Prime Minister Manele to bring the China-Solomon Islands comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era to a new level," said Lin.
China congratulates Manele on election as Solomon Islands' new PM
Over 70 percent of the projects funded by China's additional one-trillion-yuan treasury bonds issued late last year have started construction, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Saturday.
So far, 15,000 projects funded by the issued treasury bonds have been implemented, with 11,000, or 72 percent of them having started construction, said Hu He, chief of the General Office of NDRC's Investment Division, adding that efforts will be made to ensure that all the remaining projects will be in construction before late June.
"Among them (the funded projects), those for post-disaster reconstruction have seen rapid progress. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have activated 95 percent of these projects, and a batch of post-disaster reconstruction projects for improving the people's wellbeing such as schools, hospitals, water supply facilities and roads, have basically been completed, and are ready for timely use," said Hu.
Late last year, China issued an additional one-trillion-yuan treasury bonds, mainly covering projects of eight key areas including those for post-disaster construction, enhancing north China and other regions' capacity for post-disaster reconstruction, disaster prevention and mitigation, and helping the affected regions restore their basic production and living conditions and economic development to the pre-disaster level.
"The additional treasury bonds issued in 2023 strengthened support for enhancing the capacity for post-disaster reconstruction, disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, raising the support standards for the projects all at once, thus greatly easing the local government's financial pressure. The measure is both aimed at helping the affected population to restore as fast as possible the normal working and living conditions and enhancing the capacity for disaster prevention and relief in the long run, so as to better protect people's lives and property in the future," said Hu.
China's treasury bonds-assisted civil projects well progressing: official
