Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will be on an official visit to the People’s Republic of China from Sunday July 9th to Saturday 15th July.
The trip is funded by the Government of China and is at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang. China’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Wang Wenbin says the relations between China and the Solomon Islands have grown rapidly since the two countries established diplomatic relations, producing fruitful results that have benefited the two people and contribute to peace, development and stability in the region.
“Prime Minister Sogavare’s visit to China, the second one in four years, will provide new impetus for further growth of the bilateral relations. China stands ready to work with the Solomon Islands and take this visit as an opportunity to deepen political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation and enhance cultural and people-to-people exchange, so as to bring the bilateral relations to a new level”.
Apart from high level engagements with the Government of China, The Prime Minister is expected to meet with Solomon Islands students studying in Beijing on Tuesday. Prime Minister Sogavare and his delegation will also meet a number of Chinese enterprises in Beijing and visit the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong.
Jiangsu is known amongst the local Chinese as “land of fish and rice” while Guangdong is known as China’s economic powerhouse. It has the largest and fastest-growing economy in terms of GDP among the 31 provinces and municipalities in the Chinese mainland.
The Office of the Prime Minister said, one of the main business of the visit is to open the Solomon Islands Embassy in Beijing.
“The government hopes, with the opening of its Beijing embassy, the Solomon Islands- China cooperation will further deepen and cordial”, the Press Statement said.
Prime Minister Sogavare and his delegation will return home on July 17th, two days before the resumption of parliament on 19 July.
