At the invitation of the Zambian Ministry of Tourism and Arts, Li Qun, Chinese vice minister of Culture and Tourism, headed a cultural and tourism delegation to Zambia from November 13th to 15th. On November 14th, they attended the closing events of “China-Zambia Culture Year”, “Meet China-Digital Media Art Exhibition” and “China, Beyond Your Imagination-China Tourism Promotion in Zambia”. Nearly 300 guests, including Former President of Zambia Rupiah Bwezani Banda, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie and his spouse, Zambian Minister of Tourism and Arts Hon. Ronald Chitotela, senior governmental officials, diplomatic envoys accredited to Zambia, and representatives from the Chinese communities and enterprises in Zambia, were present.
Li Qun introduced China’s integrated development of culture and tourism, and expected to further strengthen cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation. He said that the “Meet China-Digital Media Art Exhibition” represents the pragmatic measures for implementing the consensus reached by two leaders and pushing ahead with cultural and tourism cooperation, friendly measures for celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and talking about brotherhood and cooperative measures for promoting mutual learning of civilizations and constructing a community with a shared destiny. The Chinese side wishes to reinforce mutual learning and exchanges with African countries regarding civilization, and jointly contribute to the building of a China-Africa Community with a shared future that enjoys cultural prosperity. The “China, Beyond Your Imagination-China Tourism Promotion in Zambia” aims to deepen tourism cooperation of the two sides and proactively give full play the role of tourism in cultural cooperation and boost bilateral ties. China has become the largest group of outbound tourists, the largest outbound tourism consumer and the fourth-largest inbound tourism destination. The thriving Chinese tourism has injected strong impetus to the world tourism.
Former President Banda, Ambassador Li Jie and Minister Chitotela spoke highly of positive outcomes of China-Zambia relations and cultural and tourism cooperation in their speech, expressing that it is expected to further enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges through the “China-Zambia Culture Year”.
During the visit in Zambia, Li Qun met with Minister Chitotela and they exchanged views on boosting cultural and tourism cooperation between two countries. He appreciated Zambian invitation and highly hailed the development of cultural relations between two sides. The culture year was seen as a reflection of closer people-to-people and cultural relations. He proposed that both sides should further intensify cultural and tourism exchanges. Minister Chitotela extended great thanks to China’s help and support, hoping to deepen cooperation with China to make new contribution in cementing traditional friendship and promoting bilateral ties.