Silence Charumbira
The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Maseru and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations on Thursday celebrated the friendship of the two countries with a tree planting exercise at the Hoohlo Park in Maseru.
Embassy staff, led by His Excellency Ambassador Yang Xiaokun, joined Minister Lejone Mpotjoane and his staff for the tree planting exercise.
Ambassador Yang said planting trees was not just an interest but it was related to the protection of the planet and sustainable development.
“It is something that is related to our future and future generations,” Ambassador Yang said.
planting exercise. Photos by Silence Charumbira
While he and his staff have all planted trees in different places, different seasons and different times, it was imperative that it was the same gesture aimed at preserving the environment.
He said when he was younger, he remembered persistent sand storms in China but they were eventually stopped by trees that have been planted in that country.
“Even before the concept of sustainable development was created, we did this in China. We have been planting trees for more than fifty years. We had the so-called Great Green Wall in China which protected us from the sandstorms,” Ambassador Yang said.
He said as developing countries, China and Lesotho had to establish their own system and to create their own development path in accordance with their own traditions and historical and cultural backgrounds.
Ambassador Yang said China and Lesotho had enjoyed excellent diplomatic relations in 2024. These were climaxed by Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s trip to Beijing where he attended the FOCAC (Forum on China – Africa Cooperation) Summit in early September.
The trip enabled him to attend high level meetings where consensus was reached on various international and regional issues. They also reached agreements on developmental issues including those where both countries had mutual interest.
Like the two countries friendship which was cultivated by past generations, was being maintained by current generations and would be passed onto future generations, the trees would also be passed on to the future generations.
“When we talk about our friendship and the resumption of our relations for 30 years, we should also pay our respects to our predecessors, the other generations, because based on their efforts, we enjoy the friendship.”
Minister Mpotjoane said the tree planting exercise was building a memory.
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He said Lesotho was enjoying a lot of support from the People’s Republic of China in both infrastructure and productivity projects.
“In particular Ntate Yang, the priority of the government of Lesotho is to build productivity. We intend to build productivity in agriculture, we intend to build productivity in renewable energy and the People’s Republic of China is taking a very good role in building infrastructure in the renewable energy sector,” he said.
The minister said Lesotho also intended to build capacity in the tourism industry and was hoping to attract more visitors from China.
He added that there was also need to identify communities where to plant fruit trees to ensure that they help in building livelihoods.
Minister Mpotjoane encouraged Basotho to make it a culture of planting trees to ensure they help sustain the environment.
