HOME > Ambassador > Events
Remarks by Ambassador Xu Erwen at the Huawei Croatia: Seeds for the Future 2020 Program Launching Ceremony
2020-11-17 18:42

Honourable State Secretary Bernard Gršić, the Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society,

H.E. Mr. Mihelin, Croatian Ambassador to China,

Mr. Skenžic, head of Independent Service for Coordination of Policies, European Affairs and International Cooperation of Ministry of Science and Education,

Mr. Zhang Heng, Country Manager of Huawei Croatia,

Dear friends from the media,

Dear students,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning!

It is my great pleasure to be part of this great event, the launching ceremony of Huawei Croatia: Seeds for the Future 2020 Program. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the 18 students who will take part in Seeds for the Future program this year, and express my appreciation to Croatian government and the Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society as well as the Ministry of Science and Education for their support to this program!

In April 2019, Huawei signed the Seeds for the Future innovation and technology training program with Croatian Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society as one of the fruitful results by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s official visit to Croatia and his attendance at the 8th Summit of “17+1 Cooperation”. Last year, the first group of 10 talented Croatian students obtained the opportunity to go to Huawei’s China headquarters to study advanced ICT technology and learn about Chinese culture through the program. As far as I know, since the first launching of this program by Huawei in 2008, a total of 5770 outstanding young students from 126 countries and regions have got the opportunity to study at Huawei. This year in Croatia we have 18 outstanding students who have been selected to participate in the program. I believe that will be an unforgettable and rewarding experience for them. The technology of Huawei has been created by talents around the world and should be shared by the whole world as well particularly by the young people.

At present, the Covid-19 pandemic is still spreading in Croatia and around the world. Therefore, this year's Seeds for the future Program will be held in the form of online courses and live courses. I believe through the careful organization by Huawei, the candidates will be able to learn advanced technology and experience through online form. Since the outbreak of the epidemic this year, our two countries and peoples have extended mutual assistance and support to each other. After the epidemic outbreak in China, the Croatian government and leaders express their sympathy and warmest greetings to the Chinese people which we cherish so much. Soon after the outbreak in Croatia, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang spoke with Prime Minister Plenkovic by phone and promised to facilitate the procurement of protective materials from China. Many provinces and cities in China, and Chinese companies Alibaba, Gree as well as those in Croatia such as Huawei, CRBC and Aoyuan have also actively made donations to Croatia, these enhanced the friendship between our two peoples. This friendship will also promote the continuous and in-depth development of cooperation between our two countries in the fields of economy, trade, cultural exchange, science and education.

The modern information technology is changing with each passing day while the digital economy is booming. According to a recent news report from Hina, there are currently about one million job vacancies in digital technology sector in Europe. The application of 5G technology will increase productivity in agriculture, public sector and manufacturing by an average of 6%, which is particularly important for Croatia. Huawei is the world leader in 5G technology. We hope Huawei could help Croatia accelerate its digital transition. China firmly supports multilateralism and free trade. Today I am very pleased to inform you a good news that yesterday China and other 14 Asia-pacific countries signed the agreement of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The 15 countries that signed the agreement have a total population of 2.27 billion, a GDP of 26 trillion US dollars, and a total export value of 5.2 trillion US dollars, each accounting for about 30% of the global total. The signing of RCEP means that about one-third of the global economy will form an integrated market. This is a victory for multilateralism and free trade. China is always an important defender of international order and rules. Not long ago, the Chinese government proposed Global Initiative on Data Security, and is willing to engage in dialogue and discussion with other countries to jointly promote the formulation of global rules on digital security, so as to provide a fair, equitable and non-discriminatory environment for all companies to share the opportunities of the digital economy while safeguarding digital security so as to benefit more people in the world.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee held in October adopted proposals on formulating the 14th five-year Plan for national economic and social development and the long-term goals for the year 2035, stressing that China will unswervingly implement the new development concept of innovation, coordination, greenness, opening up and sharing. These ideas are very much close to that of Croatia and the European Union. By 2035, China will broadly adopt a green way of working and living. After the carbon emission reaches its peak, it will steadily decrease and the ecological environment will fundamentally improve. Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed at the 75th UN General Assembly that China will achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. China would like to conduct more international cooperation with Croatia and EU countries on clean energy and climate change. China is forming a new development pattern and pushing forward an open economy with high standard. China is willing to share its development opportunities with all countries in the world to promote mutual benefit and win-win results. China's market size and capacity will continue to expand, creating a broader space for companies from all over the world to enter the Chinese market and share China's opportunities.

China and Croatia share many common grounds in supporting free trade, opening economy and multilateralism. We believe that through our joint efforts, China and Croatia will have more fruitful cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, science and education.

Finally, I wish this year's Seeds of the Future program a great success! Wish all young friends good progress in your studies, and actively contribute to the development of Croatia and the friendly cooperation between our two countries!

Thank you!

Suggest To A Friend:   
Print