Xi's special representative attends OIC summit: spokesman

Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zheng Jianbang attended the 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Banjul, Gambia, said Lin Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Beijing on Monday.

Lin briefed the media on details of Zheng's attendance to the OIC summit at a regular press briefing.

"At the invitation of Gambian President Adama Barrow, from May 4 to 5, President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zheng Jianbang attended the 15th Islamic Summit Conference of the OIC in Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, and read the congratulatory message from President Xi at the opening ceremony. China noted that the Final Communique adopted at the conference said the Conference welcomed the visit by a delegation from the OIC to the People's Republic of China including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in response to an official invitation from China. It also welcomed the participation of the special representative of the Chinese President in the 15th Islamic Summit Conference and anticipates further cooperation between the OIC and the People's Republic of China. This is highly appreciated by China," Lin said.

"On May 5, President Adama Barrow met with Vice Chairman Zheng Jianbang who conveyed President Xi's warm greetings to President Barrow and congratulated the Gambia on hosting the conference. President Barrow asked Vice Chairman Zheng Jianbang to convey his hearty greetings to President Xi and sincerely thanked President Xi for sending a special representative to the conference. He stressed that the Gambia values its friendship with China, firmly supports the one-China principle, and stands ready to work with China to deepen cooperation in various fields and achieve greater progress in bilateral relations," Lin said.

"The fact that President Xi Jinping sent a special representative to the summit and that the conference adopted a Final Communique containing the aforementioned positive wording on China fully demonstrates the common aspiration of China and Islamic states to work together, carry forward traditional friendship, and advance the relations between China and Islamic states. China will continue working with Islamic states to strengthen political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, advance exchanges among civilizations, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind," Lin said.

Xi's special representative attends OIC summit: spokesman

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