International

Ministry to shore up bottlenecks along transport infrastructure

China will encourage investment in transport infrastructure construction, ensuring unimpeded logistics and helping solve the problems of enterprises to maintain a stable economy, a senior official from the Ministry of Transport said.

“Transportation and logistics are the arteries of the economy and important pillars to support people’s livelihoods,” Xu Chengguang, chief planner of the Ministry of Transport, told Xinhua News Agency.

China’s transport sector operated smoothly in the first quarter of the year, with freight volume increasing by 1.5 percent year-on-year. Cargo handled at ports increased by 1.6 percent, and the sector’s fixed-asset investment saw year-on-year growth of 9.8 percent.

However, since March, the latest outbreak of COVID-19 in China and the Ukraine crisis have brought challenges to the country’s economy. The transport sector saw a drop in passengers and a logistics bottleneck, especially in cross-region freight transportation.

To tackle the problems, the sector will continue to invest in infrastructure construction, building a comprehensive transport network and promoting 102 major infrastructure and transport projects, Xu said.

From January to March, fixed-asset investment in the transport sector amounted to 636 billion yuan ($97 billion), up 9.8 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry.

The growth rate climbed 1 percentage point from the fourth quarter in 2021, providing effective support for stabilizing the macroeconomy, said Wang Songbo, an official with the ministry, at a recent news conference.

The majority of the funds went to road and waterway infrastructure construction, with investment in road construction rising 11.8 percent year-on-year to 481 billion yuan in the period.

Investment in waterway construction came in at 31 billion yuan from January to March, up 5.4 percent.

Xu said the sector will focus on bottlenecks to ensure unimpeded logistics, paying attention to key regions, key enterprises and to ensuring people’s livelihoods.

The ministry has promoted the use of nationally recognized traffic permits and 24 provinces have adopted the use of them for truckers. The permit has a unified format, is recognized by local governments, is easy to apply for and valid at all checkpoints.

Other measures have been adopted such as establishing a white list for truckers, building more logistics transfer hubs, and setting up a white list system for key industrial and supply chain enterprises to meet the logistics needs of those companies.

Three additional hubs to transfer emergency supplies to Shanghai and nearby regions have been established to ensure people’s livelihoods and the production of key industrial and supply chain enterprises.

Gridlocks in the national transport network have been eased but some problems still exist, such as barring trucks from regions categorized as medium and high-risk areas in some areas, Zhou Min, deputy head of the emergency response office from the Ministry of Transport, said at a news conference recently.

China has rolled out policies to relieve the burden on enterprises amid the epidemic, such as tax and rent deductions and reducing unemployment and injury insurance fees. It is also providing financial support such as continuing offering subsidies for the purchase of new energy vehicles and extending dates to repay loans.

The ministry will ensure State preferential policies are carried out in the sector and benefit enterprises.

The ministry will also guide passenger transport enterprises to develop new business, such as tailored services, Xu said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

International

Chinese Government Offers Scholarships For 2025

The Government of China is providing full scholarships to Barbadian students to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in that country, for the academic year commencing September 2025.

To be eligible for a scholarship, applicants must be citizens of Barbados in good health; high school graduates under the age of 45 when applying for general programmes; be 25 years old if pursuing undergraduate studies, and under 35 years old if pursuing a master’s degree – applicants must already possess a bachelor’s degree and graduated with at least Lower Second Class Honours.

Applicants must also be under age 40 if pursuing a doctoral degree and must have a master’s degree, or hold a master’s degree or that of an Associate Professor (or above) and be under age 50 when applying for senior scholarship programmes. Applications, procedures, and the relevant rules are available from www.campuschina.org or www.csc.edu.cn/studyinchina.

For more information on the scholarships for 2025, interested persons should contact the Tertiary Section of the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training at 535-0863, or visit www.mes.gov.bb. The deadline for the submission of applications is Friday, January 17, 2025. (PR/GIS)

International

People Of African Descent Take Centre Stage At UN

The start of the Second Decade for People of African Descent was proclaimed as January 1, 2025, by the United Nations General Assembly, yesterday.

The theme of the Second Decade is “People of African descent: Recognition, Justice and Development”.

The decade will mobilise United Nations agencies and the international community more broadly to focus on the challenges faced by people of African descent around the world and to promote the respect, protection, and fulfilment of all of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

During the course of the first decade, which ran from 2015 to 2024, the UN and its member states took a number of steps to address the challenges faced and promote the contribution of people of African descent around the world.

At the national level, Barbados has been pursuing reparatory justice through the work of Special Envoy Trevor Prescod. The University of the West Indies has established a partnership with the University of Glasgow that has led to the creation of a joint master’s programme on reparatory justice.

At the regional level, CARICOM has been pursuing reparatory justice through its reparations commission, chaired by Sir Hilary Beckles and through the Prime Ministerial sub-committee on reparations chaired by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

Upon the adoption of the resolution by the UN General Assembly, Barbados’ Ambassador to the UN, François Jackman, noted: “The facts surrounding the challenges faced by people and societies of African descent are increasingly well-known and well-understood – in part due to the higher profile these issues have assumed as a result of the proclamation of the First Decade.

“This welcome proclamation of a second decade will, however, inevitably lead to disappointment if we do not provide it and its programme of activities with the support that is required. It will therefore be essential for the international community to mobilise the necessary human and financial resources to realise the promise of this second decade.” (PR/GIS)

International

PRESIDENT XI JINPING CALLS FOR AN OPEN WORLD ECONOMY

During meeting with the leaders of major international economic organizations, President Xi Jinping noted that as each economy faces its own set of challenges, it is imperative to build an open world economy through cooperation, drive development through innovation, seize the important opportunities of the digital economy, artificial intelligence and low-carbon technology, foster new sources of economic growth, and support the cross-border flow of knowledge, technology and talent. Building “small yard with high fences,” decoupling and disrupting supply chains bring harm to others without benefiting oneself. China always believes that the world does well when China does well; and when the world does well, China will do even better. For countries, economic interdependence should be seen as a good thing that enables all to draw on each other’s strengths for mutual benefit and win-win results. It should not be taken as a risk.