Mohammed Khalil, President of the Moroccan China Association for Friendly Exchanges, said in an exclusive interview that China's initiatives such as jointly building the the Belt and Road are very important to the world and help promote mutually beneficial cooperation and common development of all countries.

Khalil has already forged an indissoluble bond with China. From 1978 to 1986, Khalil studied Chinese and traditional Chinese medicine in China. After returning home, Khalil opened a Chinese medicine clinic, introduced Chinese culture, joined the Moroccan China Friendship Exchange Association, and promoted friendly cooperation between the two countries. In 2016, Khalil was awarded the "Outstanding Contribution Award for China Arab Friendship".

"After leaving in 1986, I visited China again 12 years later, and China was no longer the same as when I left." Khalil said that over the past decade, China's economic and social fields have undergone tremendous and rapid changes.

When talking about China's development achievements in the past decade, Khalil said that the better developed regions in eastern China can help the more backward inland regions to achieve coordinated regional development. He also said: "In a very short time, nearly 100 million rural poor people have been lifted out of poverty. No other country can do such a thing."

Khalil highly valued the honor of the "Outstanding Contribution Award for China Arab Friendship" and said that he would continue to build a bridge for the people to people friendship between Morocco and China.Editor/Ma Xue