RURAL farmers on Guadalcanal and Malaita Provinces will be the recipients of agricultural equipment valued at about USD100, 000 being provided by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
This was announced at last week’s signing ceremony attended by His Excellency, Ambassador Li Ming, Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele and the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Senley Filualea.
The signing ceremony was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade in Honiara on April 23.
In his remarks, Ambassador Li said that China has provided assistance to rural areas of all nine (9) provinces in Solomon Islands.
“The pending arrival of agricultural machinery including tractors and ploughs will help improve local farmers’ capability-building in agriculture production. The Chinese Embassy is also working with the Ministry of Agriculture of Solomon Islands to bring in Chinese agricultural technical team as early as possible, which will help improve Solomon Islands’ farmers’ agricultural technology and enrich their experience.
“China and Solomon Islands are both developing countries, and faced common challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, sustainable development, and climate change,” Ambassador Li said.
But he added that being the largest grain producer and consumer of the world, China attaches great importance to tackle climate change, and pursues an environmental friendly agriculture industry to reduce greenhouse emission and mitigate impact of climate change while ensuring food security.
“China will continue to honor its commitments to its friendly relationship with Solomon Islands and look forward to more in-depth cooperation.
Foreign Minister Manele expressed appreciation to the Chinese Government for the funding assistance on agriculture machinery. The Foreign Minister said the agricultural machinery will help enhance the capability of the agriculture sector in Solomon Islands.
“The machinery will be provided to the Agricultural Development Project in Guadalcanal Province and Malaita Province under the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) of World Trade Organization (WTO),” Mr. Manele said.
