China lays out measures of development in Pacific

China on Friday laid out a raft of measures to help the sustainable development of Pacific island nations at a meeting of Pacific leaders and development partners held in the Marshall Islands.

Li Qiangmin, China's special envoy for China-Pacific Islands Forum Dialogue, told the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Post-Forum Dialogue Meeting, attended by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and representatives of the European Union, Japan and other Post-Forum dialogue partners, that in addition to the cooperation on climate change, China will take the following measures to enhance result-oriented cooperations with the Pacific island countries:

-- China will host the 2nd China-Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Guangzhou in November this year.

-- China will import more products from PICs and encourage more capable Chinese enterprises to invest in PICs so as to expand trade and investment cooperation. China will help PICs build more schools, roads, hospitals, sports facilities and other infrastructure and manufacturing projects. China will implement six agro-technological cooperation and five medical technological cooperation projects in PICs, and send more technological experts to the region. The medical team from China's Guangdong Province will continue to visit PICs and provide medical services this year.

-- China will provide over 500 government scholarships for study programs in China and more training opportunities to PICs.

-- China will provide another 400,000 U.S. dollars this year to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat for agreed cooperation programs under China-Pacific Islands Forum Cooperation Fund. China will also provide 250,000 U.S. dollars and 150,000 U.S. dollars to Pacific Islands Trade and Investment and the Pacific Regional Environment Program respectively to further promote China's relationship with the Forum and support regional cooperation.

The 25th Post-Forum Dialogue Meeting was held in Majuro, capital of Marshall Islands, on Friday, following the 44th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.