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Congratulatory Message by Minister Yoel Razvozov on the 72nd Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China
2021-09-29 16:05

On the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, His Excellency Yoel Razvozov, Minister of Tourism of the State of Israel, sent a congratulatory video message to the Chinese government and people on behalf of the Israeli government. Below is the transcript of his video message.

Dear friends in Israel and China,

My warmest greetings to all of you. It's my great pleasure and honor to represent the government of the State of Israel and congratulate the Chinese government and the Chinese people, on the occasion of your National Day celebrations marking the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Israel has marked this year 73 years of independence. China is celebrating 72 years of the founding of the PRC. Yet we are not talking about young and new countries. We are actually talking about two of the world's most ancient civilizations. It's easy to find the common grounds between our civilizations. We both share such values as the importance of strong family connection and the important role of education. We as Jews, will never forget the help the Chinese people extended to Jewish refugees in Shanghai during the darkest times of the Jewish history - the Second World War. We have passed this memory from one generation to another, and will do it over and over again.

China's economic breakthrough, development and achievements since the end of 1970s is a very important phenomenon on global scale. It's hard to underestimate its importance in historic perspective. This breakthrough enabled China to have lifted millions of people from poverty and hunger, and to provide their children with economic well-being, social prosperity and better future.

China is the biggest Israeli trade partner in Asia, and the second biggest in the world. Our countries have established a joint innovation committee in order to promote mutual interest in the spheres of agriculture, health, academic studies, sustainable environment and more. We hope that the joint innovation committee will convene its fifth session in the near future. We also hope that the session will be chaired by the highest levels of Israeli and Chinese government officials.

Just a few weeks ago, China's UIBE university has opened the first branch in Israel and become the first Chinese university to do so. The future UIBE-Israel MBA graduates will constitute one more economic and cultural bridge linking the Chinese and Israeli nations.

There is one more sphere where our mutual progress was just enormous. This sphere naturally is very close to my heart. Back in 2014, there was only one air company flying to Israel from only two destinations in China. Back then we had the pleasure to host only 24,000 Chinese tourists. In 2019, there were no less than four companies flying to Israel from five destinations in China, bringing as many as 156,000 tourists. My deep hope is that in the near future, we will be able to find ways to resume the regular flights between our countries and open our borders, so we can enjoy again the company of each other.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express the gratitude of the Israeli government for our Chinese friends for great cooperation regarding procurement and delivering the supplies needed during the harshest first period of the COVID crisis.

Let me wrap up my speech by wishing China and the Chinese people happiness, prosperity, further development and health. On behalf of the government, I would also like to wish our nations to keep nurturing our fruitful and deep friendship.

祝大家国庆快乐!(In Chinese, meaning "I wish you all a happy National Day".)

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