Good evening! My wife and I feel very much delighted and greatly honored to have you here in this golden autumn evening joining us to celebrate China's National Day and the 25th anniversary of China-Lithuania diplomatic relations. I wish, on behalf of the entire staff of the Chinese Embassy and in my own name, to extend to all of you our warm welcome and best wishes. I also wish to avail myself of this opportunity to express my deep appreciation and sincere thanks to the friends from all walks of life who have been supporting China's development and making great efforts to promote the friendly cooperation between China and Lithuania.

The forthcoming October 1^st marks the 67^th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China. Since the founding of the new China in 1949, particularly since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policies in late 1970s, the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, with their concerted efforts, have successfully transformed a poor, backward, semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China into a new one, and have made remarkable achievements in economic development and social endeavors. With years' development, China has now become the largest country in terms of foreign trade and foreign exchange reserve, the second largest economy in the world, and the second largest country in terms of direct investment in foreign counties. China's overall national strength has been constantly enhanced. There have been great improvements in the material and cultural life of the Chinese people, who are now enjoying a greater comfort and an improved quality of daily living. 

Today, as the Chinese economy has entered a state of new normal, and the gear of growth is shifting from high speed to medium-to-high speed, the Chinese government is steadfastly carrying forward comprehensive reform, including supply-side structural reform, promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation, improving reasonable income distribution and people's wellbeing, so as to enable the Chinese economy to maintain medium-to-high growth rates and move to medium-high development levels. 

This year, despite continued slowdown in global growth, the Chinese economy has on the whole maintained stability while making steady progress.  China's GDP expanded by 6.7% in the first half of this year, and registered steady growth in the third quarter. China is an important contributor to the world economic growth. According to the forecast by IMF, the global growth this year will be 3.1%, which means China's contribution to the world economic growth is about 39%. 

By August this year, China's total volume of import and export registered about US$2.4 trillion, maintaining the world largest country of foreign trade, and 9.5 million new jobs were created, nearly hitting the whole year target of 10 million. 

As from October 1^st, 2016, the Chinese currency-RMB Yuan will be included in the SDR currency basket of IMF, making the Yuan one of the five reserve currencies of IMF. This is an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system. 

During the Rio Olympics and Paralympics this summer, the Chinese athletes won 26 gold medals and 107 gold medals respectively, which demonstrated the self-confidence and self-improvement of the Chinese people. 

Early this month, the G20 Summit, with the theme of "Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy", was successfully held in Hangzhou, China, during which, the G20 Leaders' Communiqué Hangzhou Summit and 28 specific outcome documents were issued. The results of the Summit are expected to restore the vigor of global economic growth. 

On September 15^th, China successfully launched the Tiangong II Space Laboratory, taking a giant step towards China's space station. 

Three days ago on September 25^th, the world's largest radio telescope was put into use in Guizhou Province of China, which will generate enthusiasm of astronomy and bring people into science. 

These achievements in China's development, which have impressed the world, are a source of pride and motivation for the Chinese people. 

China's development can not be separated from the world while the development of the world also needs China. China pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, and has been dedicating itself to safeguarding the world peace and promoting the common development. The Chinese Government will firmly follow the road of peaceful development and continue to implement the strategy of opening to the outside world for mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation. China is ready to work together with the rest of the world including Lithuania for peaceful international environment and common prosperity. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-Lithuania diplomatic relations. The past 25 years have witnessed continuous development of the friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence, which have brought tangible benefits to our two peoples. 

During the past 25 years, there have been frequent exchanges of high-level visits and meetings, which have enhanced mutual political trust between our two countries. The Lithuanian Government has consistently adhered to the One-China policy, supported China's reform and opening-up, economic and social development, while the Chinese Government has also persistently supported the Lithuanian Government and people to safeguard national independence and develop national economy. During the past two years, several fruitful bilateral talks and meetings have been held between the leaders of our two countries, having reached important consensus to further develop our bilateral relations of friendly cooperation, strengthen China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC) Cooperation and promote China's "Belt and Road" initiative to match Lithuania's strategy of development. In early November this year, the 5th Meeting of Heads of Government of China-CEEC is to be held in Riga, Latvia. The Chinese side is expecting Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius to attend the summit. It is believed that the cooperation between China and Lithuania within the framework of "16+1 Cooperation" will be enhanced. 

During the past 25 years, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries have been accelerated, and cooperation in other areas has been expanded both in depth and scope. In early 1990s, there was not much trade between the two countries. With the joint efforts of both sides, Lithuania has now become and maintained for many years China's largest trading partner in Baltic region, and China is the largest trading partner of Lithuania in Asia. Since the beginning of this year, substantial progress has been made for export of Lithuanian agricultural products to China. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China (QSIQ) issued certificates to 15 Lithuanian companies to export aquatic products to China in May, and to 17 Lithuanian companies to export dairy products to China in August, laying a good foundation for expanding Lithuania's export to China, and promoting cooperation in agricultural sector between the two countries. In late June and early September, China Hi-Tech Fair 2016 Lithuania Sub-Fair and the International Conference of "Silk Road Connecting China and Europe (Via Baltic)" were successfully held in Vilnius and Klaipeda respectively. Starting from tomorrow, "China Textile & Garment Brand Show", which is the first large-scale China's fair in Lithuania in recent years, is to be held in LitExpo. Over the years, the business communities of our two countries have expanded concrete cooperation in such areas as trade and investment, transportation and logistics, agriculture and Hi-Tech, boosting the development of China-Lithuania relations. 

During the past 25 years, there have been frequent people-to-people and cultural exchanges, promoting mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples. "Amity of the people holds the key to country-to-country relations". The year before and last year, Baltic Arts Festival in China and Chinese Cultural Festival in Baltic States were successfully held. During the past few years, the number of students of our two countries, taking their academic studies in host country, has been increasing year by year. This year, as the year of people-to-people and cultural exchanges of China-CEEC, several art groups of our two countries had exchange of visits to various cities and offered splendid performances. Delegations from Shandong Province, Henan Province, Guangzhou City of Guangdong Province respectively visited Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda to promote the local exchanges and cooperation. People-to-people and cultural exchanges and local government cooperation have served as a driving force for the development of China-Lithuania relations. 

As we look back the history of China-Lithuania relations, I deeply feel that the above-mentioned achievements are the results of the concerted efforts of our two countries and peoples. The Chinese Government is ready to work together with the Lithuanian Government and people, taking the 25^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as a new start-point, to expand and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields, and further strengthen China-Lithuania friendly and cooperative relations, so as to lift our bilateral ties to a higher level and bring tangible benefits to our two peoples. 

In conclusion, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to each and every one of you for joining us at this auspicious occasion, and wish you all an enjoyable evening.