Ms. Sophia Leung,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to gather together with the Chinese communities in Ottawa and friends from the Parliament to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Spring Festival, on the Parliament hill. Tonight, as we rejoice over the traditional Chinese festival, we are also in celebration of the forthcoming end of the unusually heavy snow in Ottawa this winter.

First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy, I would like to extend new year’s greetings to Canadians of Chinese descent and overseas Chinese in Ottawa, and members of the Parliament who have worked for the growth of the relations between China and Canada. I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.

In the past year, China achieved great success in every endeavor of its development, with improved productivity, consolidated national strength, and a better quality of life of the Chinese people. Last year, for the first time in history, China’s GDP exceeded one trillion U.S. dollars, an increase of 8% over the year 1999. The import and export reached US$ 474.3 billion, up 31.5%, a record level in the 20 years of reform and opening-up. The foreign exchange reserve hit over US$ 160 billion. We are very confident about the prospects of China’s development in the new century.

The year 2000 was the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada. We held a series of events to commemorate this historic occasion. Over the past 30 years, China and Canada have conducted fruitful cooperation in various areas. Recent years in particular, we have seen a frequent exchange of visits by our leaders, and increased high level contacts between our two countries. The trade ties have been strengthened with China as the fourth largest trading partner of Canada. Last year, according to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade topped US$ 7 billion, 45% increase over last year. A week ago, Prime Minister Chretien led Team Canada, the largest ever trade mission with more than 600 business people to visit China for the second time. The visit is a great success. During the visit, leaders of our two countries had in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern. We signed 294 business contracts, agreements and letters of intent worth of $5.7 billion, covering the fields of environment protection, agriculture, information technology, communication, education, energy, financial service and medical service. Team Canada’s visit to China heralds much greater achievements in Sino-Canadian relations in the new century. In the years ahead, we look forward to working with you for the development of a partnership of all-round cooperation between China and Canada.

The on-going reforms in China need expanded exchanges and cooperation with the outside world. The friendly relations and cooperation between China and Canada owe to the efforts of Canadians of Chinese descent and overseas Chinese. I would like to take this opportunity to express our profound thanks to your contribution. I hope that, in the future, we could continue to count on the valuable support from the Chinese communities in Ottawa in our modernization drive and the great cause of the peaceful unification of China. I am convinced that your efforts will deepen the friendship between our two countries and two peoples.

Finally, I wish everybody peace, joy, health, and every success in the Year of the Snake.

Thank you.