Chinese president receives credentials of 19 ambassadors

BEIJING - President Xi Jinping on Friday received the credentials of 19 new ambassadors to China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The ambassadors were Maija Manika from Latvia, Myo Thant Pe from Myanmar, Wilhelmus Geerts from the Netherlands, Hussam Al Husseini from Jordan, Alenka Suhadolnik from Slovenia, Dominic Barton from Canada, Adama Compaore from Burkina Faso, Khamphao Erthavanh from Laos, Pehin Rahmani from Brunei, Pham Sao Mai from Vietnam, Rodrigo Delgado from Costa Rica, Mahbub Uz Zaman from Bangladesh, James Kimonyo from Rwanda, Arthayudh Srisamoot from Thailand, Mohamed Elbadri from Egypt, Leonardo Kam from Panama, Lui Tuck Yew from Singapore, Koishybayev Gabit from Kazakhstan and Carlos Pereira from Cuba.

Extending his welcome to the ambassadors, Xi asked them to respectively convey his cordial greetings and best wishes to their state leaders and the peoples.

China attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with their countries, and is ready to enhance political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and jointly undertake construction under the Belt and Road Initiative to benefit the peoples, Xi noted.

The Chinese government will provide envoys with convenience and support for them to perform their duties, said Xi, who hoped that the ambassadors would play an active role in deepening the friendship between China and their countries and promoting bilateral ties.

The ambassadors conveyed greetings from their state leaders to Xi and spoke highly of China on its achievements made in the 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and on the positive and constructive roles China has been playing to safeguard world peace and promote common development.

They expressed hope of their respective countries to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and their readiness to push forward ties with China.