[Li Xin/For China Daily]
As an ancient poem goes, distance cannot divide true friends who feel close even if they are thousands of miles apart. China and Uganda, though thousands of miles apart, are good and like-minded comrades, good brothers helping each other, good friends with mutually beneficial cooperation and good partners overcoming challenges.
Amid the pandemic, the cooperation between the two countries has been continuously strengthened. From January to August 2021, the bilateral trade volume increased by 26.2 percent year-on-year. China, as Uganda's largest investment source country, has helped the latter overcome the economic challenges posed by COVID-19 and achieve recovery and growth.
Projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, including the Luban Workshop, Isimba Hydropower Plant, Kampala-Entebbe Expressway and China-aided Industrial Skills Training and Production Center have been put into use. Chinese-invested industrial parks in Uganda have accelerated the resumption of work and production amid the pandemic. Infrastructure projects under construction, such as the Karuma Hydropower Plant and the upgrading of Entebbe International Airport, have seen steady progress. The two countries' growing cooperation to develop the digital economy is helping Uganda accelerate its economic and social transformation.
People-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Uganda have broken the barrier created by the COVID-19. In 2021, China continues to provide scholarships and online training courses to Ugandan students and professionals in flexible ways. About 100 Ugandan teachers have been trained to teach Chinese language in middle schools across the country, sowing more seeds of friendship.
The Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be held in Dakar, Senegal soon. The year 2022 will mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Uganda. The bilateral relations are standing at a new historical starting point.
China is ready to take this opportunity, implementing the series of important consensuses reached by the leaders of the two countries and the outcomes of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC. Led by the Global Development Initiative, the two countries will continue to jointly promote the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative to enhance strategic trust, deepen interest integration, promote the traditional friendship and work together to overcome the pandemic. The China-Uganda Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership will be elevated to a new height, by continuously building a community with a shared future for China and Uganda, further delivering benefits to the two countries and two peoples.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn