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
China's first-ever overseas RMB-denominated sovereign green bond has seen strong subscriptions from international investors following its issuance in London, UK, on Wednesday.
The deal totals 6 billion yuan (about 833.33 million U.S. dollars), including 3 billion yuan for a three-year term with an interest rate of 1.88 percent, and 3 billion yuan for a five-year term at an interest rate of 1.93 percent. Both rates are lower than the yields on comparable treasury bonds in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region secondary market.
Notably, the London offering spurred strong demand from international investors -- drawing a diverse range of participants across various regions. Total subscriptions hit 41.58 billion yuan (about 5.7 billion U.S. dollars), 6.9 times the issuance value.
"This issuance has attracted extensive attention from both domestic and international investors, drawing enthusiastic subscriptions from global investors, including monetary authorities, commercial banks, insurance companies and fund management institutions. The total confirmed subscription surpassed 40 billion yuan (about 5.5 billion U.S. dollars), more than six times the issuance value, demonstrating that global investors highly recognize China's sovereign credit and sustainable green development policy," said Zhu Min, chief market officer at the Bank of China London Branch.
"I think it's a very, very positive signal. China is already a leading issuer of bonds in green format. We can see from the size of the order book for this transaction that there is already extremely large demand for Chinese government bonds in sustainable format. So I think both from an offshore perspective as well as potentially onshore, we can see this act as a catalyst for more international involvement in Chinese government bond market," said Bryan Pascoe, chief executive of the International Capital Market Association.
The bond is held in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU), and will be listed on both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
According to industry insiders, this marks the Ministry of Finance's second issuance of RMB government bonds in London after a nine-year hiatus, underscoring its significance in further deepening and supporting China-UK cooperation in the green, economic, and financial sectors.
"The issuance of the RMB-denominated sovereign green bond not only promotes infrastructure development for the offshore RMB market in London, but also introduces a green component to China's sovereign offshore multi-currency interest rate curve," said Zhu.
China’s 1st overseas RMB-denominated sovereign green bond draws strong int’l subscriptions
