The Embassy of the Republic of Sierra Leone in the Peopleโs Republic of China, has, on June 16th opened a Branch of its Commercial Section in Shanghai,Eastern China. This is an internal arrangement aimed at decentralizing the activities of the Embassyโs Commercial Section in a bid to effectively attract more Investments and Trade opportunities from China to Sierra Leone.
The event was attended by staff from the Embassy in Beijing, including the Ambassador and wife, Deputy Ambassador and the Press ย Attachรฉ. It climaxed ย the installation of Xian Nainjie ,CEO of Shanghai Juxi Asset Management and Senior Member of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce as Sierra Leoneโs Commercial Counselor, in charge of the Shanghai Office.
ย This colorful ceremony was also attended by dozens of Chinese Business men and women, potential investors and friends of Sierra Leone.
Speaking at the ceremony, His Excellency Victor Bockarie Foh, highlighted the importance that Sierra Leone attaches to seeking more Trade and Investment opportunities from China to Sierra Leone to enhance President Ernest Bai Koromaโs drive for national development in concord with Governmentโs blueprint, the โAgenda for Prosperityโ
According to Ambassador Foh, the opening of a Commercial Office in Shanghai is aimed at reaching greater numbers of worthy Private Sector Investment in the areas of Trade, Commerce and Tourism and to attract greater Public as well as Private capital flow from China ย into Sierra Leoneโs development. โThis is also an indication of our desire and commitment to expand and build upon our long and very cordial relationship with the Peopleโs Republic of Chinaโ,Ambassador Foh said.
He called on the new Commercial Counselor ย to look at Sierra Leoneโs untapped investment potentials in the areas of Tourism, Real Estate Development, Water, Electricity, Roads and Infrastructure, Transportation, Medical and Health, Communications, Ports, Railways, Telecommunications, Marine Resources, etc, etc.
Ambassador Foh admonished Mr, Xia to use his good offices to attract trustworthy investors to participate in all sectors of Sierra Leoneโs development agenda currently prescribed by His Excellency President Ernest Bai Koroma.
ย The Peopleโs Republic of China is a great country by all standards and with its 23 very economically viable Provinces, 4 efficiently and effectively managed Autonomous Regions and 4 huge / mega Municipalities, the Peopleโs Republic of China needs dedicated and hard working people with the requisite caliber to reach out to the numerous investors this country can certainly boast of.
According to Ambassador Foh, โwe need our eyes and ears ย to spread out in China in order to capture business investments and build sound diplomatic relations with this great countryโฆโ,thus the need for the decentralization of the Commercial Section of the ย Embassy in Beijing. โBy our internal arrangement and in the interests of both Sierra Leone and China, we are determined to reach every administrative compartment of the Peopleโs Republic of China.โ,he said.
Ambassador Foh ย encouraged the new Commercial Counselor to use the Public Private ย Partnership medium of development to capture more and worthy Private ย Sector ย investment opportunities into Sierra Leone. โWith your formal installation as our Commercial Counselor in Shanghai, you will be the eye of the Embassy for Trade ,Commerce ย and Investmentโฆuse your experience to get the much desired resultโ
He said, there are many good investors in the Peopleโs Republic of China โ..we want some of them to go into Sierra Leone and within the ECOWAS Sub-Region.We therefore call on you to use ย Sierra Leone as your base and spring into other ECOWAS countriesโ
Making a statement was the Board chairman for Shanghai Juxi Asset Management, Wu ย Chen. He promised,on behalf of the company to do all they could to bring good results. โWe will use our team to do the best. We will bring Sierra Leonean culture and friendship here into Shanghai and ย we will use our expertise in business to take investments into Sierra Leoneโฆโ
In his brief statement,Xia Nianjie ย the new Commercial Counselor said, he was honored to be appointed Commercial Counselor for the Embassy of Sierra Leone in China, in charge of Shanghai. ย Sierra Leone, he said, has got great ย investment opportunities as seen in areas of Petroleum, Marine Sector, Tourism and in the development of People to People friendship and human resource capacity building.
Both Sierra Leone and China, Xia said, have had over forty years of strong,cordial and unbroken ties both at the levels of People to People and diplomacy. The opening of a Branch of the Embassyโs Commercial Section in Shanghai which is a massive business center, he believes , is a manifestation of these long standing ties between the two countries.
He said, he will seek to work towards the mutual benefit of both Sierra Leone and China and promised to push towards economic and trade cooperation through the Shanghai Commercial Office.
By population , Shanghai is the second largest Chinese city with ย a population of about 24 million. It ย is one of the four direct-controlled ย municipalities of PR China and it is the worldโs busiest container port. Shanghai is a major commercial hub ย for China and a well recognized ย global Financial ย Centre. it is said to have the highest number of skyscrapers the world over. The City is located in the Yangtze River Delta, in East of China.
John Baimba Sesay
Press/Information Attachรฉ
Sierra Leone Embassy,China
(Report compiled from Shanghai)
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