Bouterse applauds historical visits

President Desi Bouterse on Sunday applauded the historical visits of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Turkish Foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. The head of state reportedly met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Presidential Palace on Sunday. According to Bouterse, both visits will have economic and political effects. He explained that the ministers travelled to Suriname to strenghten relations. Minister Wang who praised the strong relation between Suriname and the People’s Republic of China applauded the fact that Suriname is sticking to the ‘One China Policy’. He pointed out that Suriname is a country with potential and that his country is still willing to lend a helping hand to the further development of Suriname. The People’s Republic of China supported Suriname with projects such as Dalian IV, the housing project and the Wanica Hospital. Minister Wang pointed out that Suriname will receive more scholarships and training sessions. He also pointed out that he will use his influence to get Chinese toursts in Suriname especially given the fact that Suriname has enough to offer.

Minister Wang hopes that Suriname will also attend the China Import and Export Trade Fair in Shanghai in November. Minister Wang and his Surinamese counterpart, Yldiz PollackBeighle, reportedly inked an economic and technical collaboration agreement and an agreement regarding the collaboration between the Surinamese Diplomatic Institute and the China Foreign Affairs University. The Chinese minister left Suriname on Sunday afternoon. “China is ready to enhance cooperation with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in multilateral areas in order to better safeguard the rights and interests of developing countries,” Minister Wang Yi said at a meeting with Irwin Larocque, secretarygeneral of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), in Georgetown, Guyana, on Saturday.