On January 6, 2022, Chinese Ambassador to Mali Chen Zhihong and Mali's Minister of Environment, Clean and Sustainable Development, Modibo Cone Koniobra Village, jointly attended the commencement ceremony of the China-aided solar energy demonstration village project in Mali. Governor of Curicoro Region (equivalent to the provincial governor), Governor of Cartier, Governor of Kangaba, Chairman of the Council of Curicoro Region, relevant local mayors, district chiefs, and village chiefs, and the project implementation enterprise Zhongdi Company representatives and more than 400 local people attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

About 1,200 sets of off-grid solar energy systems, 200 sets of solar street light systems, nearly 20 sets of solar water pump systems, and some concentrated solar power supply systems will be installed in the Mali-aided Solar Demonstration Village Project, which will directly benefit tens of thousands of local people.

In his speech, Ambassador Chen thanked the Chinese and Malaysian technicians for their efforts in promoting the implementation of the project, and pointed out that energy is the driving force of economic development, and clean and green energy is the guarantee of sustainable social development. As a landlocked country in West Africa, Mali has abundant sunlight and huge potential for solar energy development. The construction of the solar energy demonstration village project aided in Mali will effectively improve the lives of local people and deepen the cooperation between the two sides in the field of clean energy.

Ambassador Chen said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries for more than 60 years, the two sides have always adhered to the principles of sincerity, friendship, equal treatment, mutual support and common development, and have carried out all-round, multi-level and wide-ranging cooperation and achieved rich cooperation results. . China and Malaysia will continue to work side by side to implement the "nine projects" proposed by President Xi Jinping at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and promote the building of a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.

The director of the section said that Malaysia and China have a profound traditional friendship. China is an important strategic partner of Mali. It has provided a lot of selfless assistance to the Malian side over the years. The Malaysian side is deeply grateful for the sustainable development of the local area, and will strive to use and maintain the project well. The Malaysian side is willing to continue to strengthen the cooperation in the field of sustainable development with the Chinese side, and promote the continuous and in-depth development of the cooperation between the two countries. Editor/He Yuting