On December 15th 2020, Chinese Ambassador H.E. Mr. Ren Yisheng attended the Annual Awards Ceremony of the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) and delivered a speech. The Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs & Tourism (MICAT), Mr. Ledgerhood J. Rennie, the Director Genenral of LBS, Mrs. Estelle Liberty Kemoh, the Managing Director of National Port Authority, Mr. Bill Twehway, the President of Press Union of Liberia, Mr. Charles B Coffey and more than 200 working staff members of LBS were present at the ceremony.

Ambassador Ren expressed his deep appreciation to LBS for granting China the “Star Partnership” award, reviewed the achievements of China-Liberia relations and bilateral pragmatic cooperation this year, and introduced China’s development roadmap and other relevant situations in the coming years. Ambassador Ren said that in 2020, faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese and Liberian governments both adhered to the people-centered approach, worked together to overcome the pandemic, with the resumption of work and production in both countries being advanced smoothly. Recently, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee was successfully held, with proposals providing action guidelines and outlining long-term goals of China’s economic and social development in the future. Under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping and the CPC, the Chinese people will strive to start a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. At the same time, China will continue to be a strong supporter of multilateralism and strengthen solidarity and cooperation with developing countries.

Ambassador Ren indicated that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) with numerous achievements. Over the past 20 years, pragmatic cooperation between China and Liberia in various fields has yielded fruitful results. China is willing to continue to strengthen strategic complementarity between the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) and the “Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development” (PAPD) under the framework of the FOCAC, and continuously expand and deepen friendly and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

The Minister of MICAT, Mr. Ledgerhood J. Rennie, the Director Genenral of LBS, Mrs. Estelle Liberty Kemoh and the President of Press Union of Liberia, Mr. Charles B Coffey, in their speeches, expressed appreciations to China for its important contribution to the development of Liberia in various fields. Minister Rennie said that the friendship between Liberia and China has a long history and the practical cooperation between the two countries has significantly contributed to the social and economic development of Liberia, and laid a solid foundation for realizing the development goals of PAPD. Liberia is willing to continue to work with China to deepen the friendship between the governments and peoples of the two countries, and further push bilateral relations to a new level.

During the ceremony, on behalf of the Chinese government, Ambassador Ren donated a batch of electronic radio equipment to the Liberia Broadcasting System.