Ambassador Li Yan to Georgia was interviewed in writing by Ge's Echo

On October 28, Ambassador to Georgia Li Yan was interviewed in writing by the mainstream Georgian media Echo, introducing the "Global Development Initiative" proposed by President Xi Jinping at the general debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the preparations for the 100-day countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the anti-epidemic cooperation between China and Georgia. The full text of the interview was published in the Echo as follows:

I. A few days ago, the "Global Development Initiative" proposed by the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the leaders of China and Georgia participated in this meeting, how does China evaluate the results of this meeting? This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 50th anniversary of China's restoration of its legitimate seat in the United Nations. Following his attendance at a series of high-level meetings marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations last year, President Xi Jinping once again attended the general debate of the GENERAL Assembly and delivered an important speech entitled "Strengthening Confidence, Overcoming Difficulties together and Building a Better World", making China's contribution to defeating the COVID-19 epidemic, issuing Chinese initiatives for promoting global development, putting forward Chinese proposals for building a new type of international relations, and providing Chinese solutions for improving global governance. President Xi Jinping's speech held high the banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, injected confidence into international solidarity against the epidemic, guided the direction for global common development, and drew a blueprint for responding to changes in the world, fully demonstrating the profound insights and feelings of the leaders of major countries. Prime Minister Garibashvili personally attended the current session of the General Assembly in New York and delivered a speech, reaffirming the spirit of Cooperation and Global Engagement in Georgia, saying that the Georgian Government has achieved sustainable development of the country through reform and formulated the Georgian Vision 2030 to promote the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The above is highly consistent with China's propositions. The vast majority of countries, including Georgia, have made it clear that we will unite to defeat the epidemic, cooperate to promote economic recovery and common development, and practice and uphold genuine multilateralism. This fully condenses and reflects the consensus of the international community and the aspirations of the people of the world.

Second, President Xi Jinping put forward the "Global Development Initiative" for the first time at this session of the UN General Assembly, can you further introduce the relevant situation of this initiative? At the crossroads of where to go in the international development cause, President Xi Jinping solemnly put forward the "Global Development Initiative", calling on the international community to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, promote stronger, greener and healthier global development, and build a global community with a shared future for development. The core essence of the "Global Development Initiative" is to adhere to the priority of development, adhere to the people-centered, the initiative will improve people's well-being, achieve all-round human development as the starting point and foothold, focus on promoting poverty reduction, food security, anti-epidemic and vaccines, financing for development, climate change and green development, industrialization, digital economy, connectivity and other fields of cooperation, to build a global community of shared future for development. The Global Development Initiative promotes an open and inclusive spirit of partnership. The initiative will synergize with the belt and road initiative, and build consensus through multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the United Nations and various regional and sub-regional platforms to form a strong synergy. The initiative is an important public product and cooperation platform provided by China for the international community, which is open to the world and welcomes the participation of all countries. We welcome all countries in the world, including Georgia, to join the global development initiative, deepen the docking of each other's development strategies, jointly promote cooperation in key areas, and create a brighter prospect for global development.

Third, many athletes have qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and the Georgian people are eagerly awaiting the Winter Olympic Games, can you tell us about the recent preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games? On October 27, the Beijing Olympic Games entered the 100th countdown, the world will once again gather under the banner of the five rings, the flame of the Olympic spirit illuminates the way forward for mankind to unite and cooperate and overcome difficulties, bring people confidence, warmth and hope, and gather the strength to jointly defeat the epidemic. As IOC President Bach said at the Fire Collection Ceremony for the Beijing Winter Olympics: "Beijing will write history and become the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games." The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will connect Chinese people with the world." Running the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games well is China's solemn commitment to the international community, and the Chinese government attaches great importance to the preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, even under the epidemic situation. In the past six years, the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have adhered to the olympic concept of "green, shared, open and clean", and have made progress that has attracted the world's attention, and a milestone task has been completed as scheduled. At the beginning of this month, the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have entered the sprint stage, including holding the Winter Olympics test matches, carrying out cross-regional comprehensive drills, releasing the medal style of the games, and determining the overall plan for the opening and closing ceremonies, and the magnificent picture of the Beijing Winter Olympics is about to be presented to the world. I noticed that Tao Man, a Georgian girl who studied in China through the Chinese Government Scholarship, was recently invited to visit the venues of the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and recorded a Vlog in Georgian, welcome to watch her video. Georgia is a power of ice and snow sports, Georgia has the world-renowned Bakuriani, Gudauri and other alpine ski resorts, skiing, skating and other winter sports in Georgia are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Georgian athletes are also the international winter sports award-winning hot. So far, four figure skaters in Georgia have won tickets to the Beijing Winter Olympics. We look forward to the opportunity for more outstanding Georgian athletes to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, fully display their talents and achieve excellent results.

4. What is the current epidemic situation in China? How do you view the anti-epidemic cooperation between China and Georgia? Under the situation that the global epidemic situation is still severe, the epidemic situation in China has always been under effective control. Recently, there have been many sporadic local epidemics in China, and local governments have responded quickly, immediately increasing investigation and testing efforts, and insisting on controlling the epidemic as soon as possible with the strictest prevention and control measures. China's vaccination work has been carried out effectively. As of October 27, the country has reported a cumulative total of 2,254,252,000 doses of the new crown virus vaccine, and more than 1 billion people have completed the whole process of vaccination, ranking first in the world in terms of total doses and coverage. China will unswervingly do a good job in normalizing epidemic prevention and control, and continue to uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, fight the epidemic together with the people of the world, and strive for the final victory in the fight against the epidemic at an early date. China and Georgia have always actively carried out anti-epidemic cooperation in depth, shared prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment plans with Miao Gefang, organized Georgian parties to participate in video exchange meetings on epidemic prevention and control experience, provided virus test kits to Georgian sides for the first time, donated medical supplies and equipment for many times, and promoted Georgians to use Chinese standards and equipment to build the first meltblown cloth mask production line in Georgia. Up to now, China has provided 200,000 doses of Chinese vaccines for Georgia and assisted Georgia in purchasing 2.6 million doses of Chinese vaccines, and Prime Minister Gary Bashvili also thanked China and Chinese vaccine companies at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, and spoke highly of the contribution of Chinese vaccines to protecting the health of the Georgian people. China is willing to continue to provide assistance to the fight against the epidemic within its capacity and work together to achieve the final victory in the fight against the epidemic.

(Source: Chinese Embassy in Georgia)