Following formal discussions at Sapodilla Restaurant on Tuesday, March 10, officials take time out for a photo. Pictured from left: Vice President Xie Yuan, CPAFFC; President Anthony Capron, BCFA; China’s Ambassador to The Bahamas, Yuan Guisen; and Senator Joseph Curry, BCFA President Emeritus. (BCFA Photo by Lloyd Wong)
|
Nassau, Bahamas - The Chinese model of People-to-People friendships
and diplomacy could go a long way “in the eradication of wars and
strife, and to the promotion of global peace,” said Anthony Capron,
president of the Bahamas China Friendship Association.
Mr. Capron
was welcoming Vice President Xie Yuan’s five-member delegation from the
Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
(CPAFFC), at a cocktail reception at Sapodilla Restaurant, Tuesday,
March 10.
Also in attendance, representing Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell, was Parliamentary Secretary
Cleola Hamilton and Permanent Secretary Harrison Thompson, represented
Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe.
Mr. Capron suggested that
the Chinese model could bring peace to the Boko Haram operations in West
Africa, the ISIS crisis in the Middle East, and the nuclear threats of
North Korea and Iran.
“It may be hard to imagine,” he said, “but it is quite possible that there can be peace.”
The
delegation, which arrived on Monday, was received in a courtesy call on
Tuesday by Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling, at Government
House.
In formal discussions with the CPAFFC, executives of the
BCFA explored ways to deepen relations between the two countries through
cultural exchanges in the areas of the Performing Arts, Music,
Photographic and Painting Exhibitions, and Writers’ Workshops.
They also talked about the possibilities of establishing a sister city relationship between China and The Bahamas.
In
his welcome Mr. Capron told the delegation that they were here at an
opportune time in the country’s development, to bear witness “to the
cusp of a new dawn for the Bahamian economy with the imminent opening of
the $3 billion Bah Mar Resort.”
He said too that with the recent
purchase of the British Colonial Hilton Hotel by the China State
Construction Engineering Corporation, “we are looking forward, very
soon, to the redevelopment and revitalization of our down town area.”
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Cleola Hamilton greets Ji Yongjun, Deputy Director General, CPAFFC. At right is Vice President Xie Yuan. (BCFA Photo by Lloyd Wong)
|
Anthony Capron, president of the Bahamas China Friendship Association, welcomes the delegation from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. (BCFA Photo by Lloyd Wong)
|