Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka toured a border county in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Tuesday and hailed the eye-opening scale of China's rural development efforts, saying he hopes to deepen cooperation with the country in the future.
Rabuka's trip to rural Yunnan comes as part of an extensive 10-day official visit to China from Aug 12 to 21, during which ties between the two sides are set to be strengthened.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rabuka arrived in Yunnan's Malipo, a county sitting on the China-Vietnam border. There he toured two villages - Ping'anpo and Nanyou - where he learned how rural revitalization is taking place, in terms of agricultural development, education, and the protection of ethnic culture.
The Fijian prime minister was impressed by how these remote villages have undergone tremendous changes in such a short period of time, and said that as his own country is also dedicated to reducing poverty, Malipo's approach to rural development could serve as an inspiring model.
"For me, it's an eye opener in the sense that we thought we were doing our poverty alleviation and regional, rural and outer island development programs well. But when you look at the scale and the leaps and bounds that China has taken over the same period, it's really amazing," he said.
Fiji was the first Pacific Island nation to establish diplomatic ties with China back in 1975 and over the past five decades the two countries have witnessed close exchanges across various fields.
Looking ahead, Rabuka said he expects more collaboration with China under the Belt and Road Initiative, and also singled out the success of China's booming e-commerce sector as another area from which Fiji can learn from. He said hopes to advance more in terms of improving digital infrastructure and leave behind a future legacy in his country.
"I believe [China is] well into e-commerce, which we are lagging way, way behind - not only by Chinese standards, but also internationally. Those are the areas that I feel we can really do a lot in, in the next two years that's left for my government until we get to the election. But we must do something to start the ball rolling and point the nation in the right direction for future governments to follow suit," he said.
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
