The Commonwealth of Dominica considers China as a true friend, and is seeking more cooperation and exchanges with China in various areas, said Minister for Public Works, Public Utilities and Digital Economy of the country.
Fidel Grant, the minister, made the statement in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the 15th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum in the Macao Special Administrative Region of China.
"Earlier, we celebrated 20 years of diplomatic relations with China. And we have good relations with China, and we consider China to be our brother. China has assisted us in several areas with agriculture, health care, education, and also infrastructure. So ongoing, currently, we have the rebuilding of six schools, which were damaged during the passage of hurricane Maria in 2017. And these schools are across the island and will be both primary and secondary schools, and will aid in the development of our education policy," he said.
Themed "Green Innovative Digital Connectivity," the two-day forum opened on Thursday, drawing over 3,500 industry representatives from more than 70 countries and regions to the event.
Guo Tingting, China's vice minister of commerce, said in her opening address that the Ministry of Commerce of China is willing to actively carry out policy dialogue and mechanism matching for green infrastructure cooperation and to continue to deepen practical cooperation in the fields of green infrastructure, green energy, green transportation, and green finance.
In the interview, Grant highlighted the forum's collaborative nature, and shared the future development plan of the Commonwealth of Dominica in the related fields.
"One of the major transformative projects that we have ongoing is the International Airport. The runway is about 2,800 meters long. So soon, we should be able to have flights as close as China as possible. What we're hoping to develop as well is our digital economy. We are discussing with a few partners to development of our Smart City. This will see technology across the city in terms of traffic management, and security," he said.
The forum, co-organized by the China International Contractors Association and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, will run through Friday.
Commonwealth of Dominica expects more cooperation with China: minister
Commonwealth of Dominica expects more cooperation with China: minister
