The BRI promotes the connectivity of the continent

I am happy to be in this friendly country. China and Lebanon enjoy a very good relationship based on mutual respect, understanding, cooperation, help. It is very important for us to know, to have China as a friend and the Chinese are really true friends. I've been here, as I told you since 6 years ago. And we've been advancing in this relation, we have to acknowledge that we had a very good relation,but we have to go further and this kind of relationship. We had some difficulties in Lebanon. We still have difficulties in Lebanon.

And during those difficulties, China appeared as a good friend and lending helping hands in many ways.

I remember whenever we had the delegations here, we used to host them here to understand a bit and to listen to what was their impression by visiting China.

And they all come with a certain idea about China and they leave with another idea completely different when they see developments, diversity, technology, infrastructure, lots of things we don't know about, except when we have to visit. This is why I always suggest that we have to know more China even being in Lebanon.

So Chinese have to show us more about their country, use this beautiful, soft power. Lebanon was the first country in the Middle East, for example, to host a Confucius Institute, they hosted, they opened it in 2005, thinking that some businessmen would go in to learn some Chinese before coming to China, but then they realized that lots of people are coming to learn Chinese, different generations, different ages. It became so successful.

I remember that its beauty, it's a very beautiful country. We are really blessed to have such a diversity of nature and a very small geographical space.

It's a connection between Asia and Europe. So you have the best of Asia and the best of Europe mixed in this small country, different kind of cultures, you feel at ease wherever you go. You enjoy the beauty of this beautiful place, not only the beauty of the place,but also the beauty of its people.

We are known to be very hard worker, very resilient. Our society is so open,cosmopolitan, diverse, inclusive. We are very hospitable.

This initiative is very much important. Lebanon signed it in 2017.

We were very interested in what it brings first to Lebanon, then to the world. We were saying a bit earlier that we share the same continent, but we don't know each other.

We are far away and what it meant for me with the main achievement for the BRI would be the connectivity of this continent. It's true that we have airplanes, we can travel by airplanes, but BRI is bringing easier connectivity through infrastructure.

This is very important when I compare our continent, Asia, for example, to European continent. And I see that the integration and the integration of Europe was easier when they started to connect countries to each other and countries and people to each other.

This is how they got to know more about themselves and how it became integrated and complementary.

And I think this is what we need to do in the Asian continent. We have lots of similarities, but we have to bring them together. We find ourselves together and to bring those communities together. And this can only happen by connectivity and connectivity not only by airplanes, by all means, connectivity by infrastructure and by the people to people exchange.

I think this might be the biggest achievement of BRI once it is finalized, when it comes to my country,  we are very much interested in the Chinese experience. In many ways, (through) BRI we can have many projects together. It's easy for China to build railways,highways, airports, whatever ports. It's very easy.What we expect more is to learn also about certain experiences from our Chinese friends.

Some certain experiences that can be also lessons to many other countries being in the BRI or outside the BRI those lessons can be learned through the hardship through which China has gone through during the 40, 50 years ago.

Those hardships, we live them also in Lebanon, and we can learn how China got out from those difficulties. True, your conditions are different from our conditions. Our realities might be different from your realities, but we can find ways to learn from each other adapting things to our own country.

So for me, this is very important and very interesting. Modernization, I think the most important part of it is that it should have the human part as the main target of all progress.

Modernization, we can have the best machines, we can have the best infrastructure if it is not for the development and for the wellbeing of the human, I don't think it's worth really living.

And this is what we see here in China. I'm not the only one talking about it, but we are invited by the various ministries here to visit China. And we see the efforts by Chinese to put people first,then authorities to enhance and improve the lives of the people around and how China was having difficult situations and difficult circumstances where it was able by a wise decision.

And the consistency also of this will of lifting up people from poverty. It's an example. And this is why I was telling you about lessons to be learned from the Chinese experience. And this is, I think one of the most important one, how to help people improve their living.

And I see the difference and some other friends also were here before I arrived, and they come and they see the changes happening in China.

This is the most important element, I think when it comes to modernization, people first, the wellbeing of the people first.So the people, if they are OK, they can give more to their society because the human is the core subject of all decisions and project made by the governments or by the states.

So modernization is very important to China, very important to everybody, because all our countries want to modernize itself. As you say, each country has its own path.

But the path taken by China is a very interesting one and worlds learning from because it has proved to be concrete and had concrete results among people on the ground.

Thank you for your deep understanding and knowledge on China and on the topics related to a development. I'm sure you must have visited many cities in China. In the sense, like, for example, I go to shanghai, I feel the city perpetual move. Everybody is rushing, everybody is running to finish its business. A very important city Shanghai. We've been to the north, west, south lately last week.

For example, we were in Hainan. This very important project now that is being implemented by the government as like the port of China, being the port of China. Very interesting opportunities, very interesting, a project that can be made with this beautiful also province. So we can do lots of projects with lots of provinces here.

Author: Milia Jabbour