On 26 September 2019, Chinese Ambassador to Iceland Jin Zhijian and his wife He Linyun held reception to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Hilton Nordica in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland. Present at the reception were Mr. Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, Speaker of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, Mr. Kristján Þór Júlíusson ,Minister of Fishery and Agriculture, Mr. Ásgeir Jónsson, Governor of Central Bank of Iceland, and Ms. Bryndís Haraldsdóttir, Deputy Speaker of Althingi, together with over 300 Icelandic senior governmental officials, members of Althingi, foreign diplomats, people from all walks of life in Iceland, overseas Chinese and Chinese students in Iceland.
Ambassador Jin delivered a warm speech. He firstly gave an overview of the splendid achievements in the past 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. He said that the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to forge ahead through hard work and has turned China from a weak and impoverished country with backward productivity into the world's second largest economy, the largest industrial manufacturer, the largest trader of goods, the biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves, and the second largest country for foreign capital inflow in the world. The living standard of the Chinese people has changed tremendously with over 700 million people lifted out of poverty. The scientific and technological strength has been significantly enhanced. China has made remarkable achievements in manned space flight, lunar exploration, quantum science, deep-sea exploration and satellite navigation. China has actively integrated into the international community, become an active participant, builder and contributor of the international system and made great contributions to world peace and stability. The Belt and Road Initiative and the concept of building a community of a shared future for mankind are warmly responded and have gained strong endorsement from the international community. The Chinese nation has stood up, grown rich, and become strong.
Ambassador Jin emphasized that the reasons why China has achieved such brilliant development within a relatively short period of time are the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, a development path that suits China's national conditions which is Socialism with Chinese characteristics, sticking to the policy of reform and opening up, and the hard work of all the Chinese people. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core, the Chinese people will stick to the path of peaceful development, deepen reform and opening-up, and strive to turn China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by 2050.
Ambassador Jin said that although China and Iceland are far away from each other and have different national conditions, the two countries enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges. In recent years, political trust has been further deepened, and cooperation in fields of economy and trade, science and education, culture and people-to-people exchanges have seen new progress. Both countries stand for international multilateral systems and free trade, and enjoy broad prospects for cooperation in the fields of climate change, sustainable development, and environmental protection. Ambassador Jin expressed his appreciation to all friends who care about China's development and support the friendly cooperation between China and Iceland. On the new starting point, China is willing to work together with Iceland to write a new chapter in the China-Iceland relations.
Speaker Sigfússon expressed his warm congratulations on the 70 years anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. He recalled happily his visit to China in 2018, and the good meeting with President Xi Jinping which left him a deep impression. He spoke highly of China's fast development and the sound relationship of friendly exchanges between Iceland and China and reiterated that Iceland is willing to work together with China to promote bilateral cooperation, address climate change, safeguard international multilateral system and free trade, and further contribute to the international society.
During the reception, short films China 2019 and Beautiful China which tell stories of today's China were played, Chinese and Icelandic artists presented marvelous shows of songs, violin concerto and Gongfu which received warm applauds. The reception has also staged the International Photo Exhibition Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, and presented the guests with the special edition of Icelandic Times to mark China's 70th Anniversary which attracted wide interest. The guests were also happy and amazed to get a specially designed gift bag with Panda and Puffin on it.
The reception was held in a grand, warm and friendly atmosphere. Guests attending the reception expressed their warm congratulations on China's 70th anniversary, spoke highly of China's great achievements since its founding70 years ago. They also appreciated China's outstanding contribution to world peace and stability as well as common development. Many of them also made positive comments on the good development of China-Iceland relations. They expressed their confidence in China's future and were willing to contribute more for the cooperation between China and Iceland in all fields.Many guests praised the reception for its novel form and rich content. They were deeply impressed by the photo exhibition, short films, the special edition of Icelandic Times to celebrate China's 70th Anniversary.
