H.E. President Hassan Sheik Mohamud,
H.E. Minister Mohamud Abdirahman Sheikh Farah (Beene-Beene) , 
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’m honored to attend the Somalia International Investment Conference. It’s a pleasure for me and the Chinese Embassy in Somalia to communicate with all parties concerned through such platforms as this conference, and to discuss ideas and measures to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation with Somalia.

Last month, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was successfully held. President Xi Jinping was re-elected the General Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee, which demonstrated the high approval rate and firm support of the entire Party and the Chinese people for President Xi Jinping for the great achievements made by China over the past ten years under his leadership.

Over the past ten years, China's GDP has grown from US$7 trillion to US$16 trillion, remaining the second largest economy in the world and accounting for more-than-one-third contribution to global growth. In 2021, China's outbound FDI was nearly 145.2 billion U.S. dollars, and the FDI to Africa exceeded 3.7 billion U.S. Dollars. China has embarked on a new journey to rejuvenate the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. The Chinese path to modernization is for a huge population of 1.4 billion, for common prosperity, for balanced development in economy and culture, for green development that strikes a balance between humanity and nature and is to be attained through peaceful development. A Chinese path to modernization has unlocked new possibilities and opened up new horizons for nations pursuing modernization. 

On the new journey, China is committed to its national policy of opening up to the rest of the world, and strives to promote the development of an open global economy. China remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, and firmly stands with developing countries. At the just-concluded UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCC COP 27) in Egypt, thanks to the solidarity of developing countries, all parties agreed to establish a "loss and damage" fund to support developing countries vulnerable to climate change. China will continue to promote world peace and development, facilitate the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and carry forward humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom.

This month, President Xi Jinping attended the 17th G20 Summit and the 29th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting. On these two occasions, President Xi called on all countries to embrace the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, promote global development that is more inclusive, resilient and beneficial to all, prioritize development and put the people at the center. Particularly, he underlined that we should always keep in mind the difficulties faced by developing countries and accommodate their concerns.

Genuine development would be possible only when all nations join forces to grow and develop together. Last year, President Xi Jinping proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI), which has already been supported by more than 100 countries and international organizations, including Somalia. China will continue to be a contributor to global development and a provider of public goods for the world. China will work shoulder-to-shoulder with people from all over the world to add much-needed certainty and stability to an unstable and uncertain world.

China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is a continent with most developing countries. A Chinese path to modernization will create enormous opportunities for Africa, and also inspire new ideas for African countries to improve governance and explore development paths suited to your own national conditions. Somalia was the first East African country to establish diplomatic relations with China, and our bilateral cooperation has been very fruitful. China has provided considerable assistance to Somalia in drought response, nation-building and improvement of people's livelihood. China will continue to support Somalia in meeting the challenges to achieve peace, stability and development at an early date. I hope and do believe that our two peoples will rise to the challenges, turn challenges into opportunities and deepen the friendly and cooperative relations between our two nations.

In closing, I wish this conference a complete success!