Reform and opening-up have been a crucial move for China to catch up with the times in great strides and make great achievements in economic and social development. Over the past 46 years, along with the main theme of reform and opening-up, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has continuously been planning new strategies and proposing new policies to point the direction for China's economic and social development and modernization. In 1978, the third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee was convened, launching the reform and opening-up, and socialist modernization. In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee marked the beginning of a new journey of comprehensively deepening reform in the new era. In 2022, the 20th National Congress of the CPC established the central task of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and achieving the Second Centenary Goal, realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through advancing Chinese modernization. This year July, in order to implement the strategic plans made through the 20th National Congress, and turn the development blueprint into reality, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee adopted the “Resolution on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization”. In 2021, China built a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and thus achieved the First Centenary Goal. China historically eradicated absolute poverty with 800 million people. China stepped into a new era of economic and social development with new achievements. In the past decade, China’s economy grew by an average annual rate of 6.1%, contributing to world economic growth more than 30% on average. The building of a unified national market has been accelerated, so does an all-round, high-level open economy. The domestic and international economic flows have scaled up commodity trade and recorded new highs. Residents' income has steadily increased. The fundamentals of China's economy remain robust, and the general trend of high-quality development is still promising. In order to achieve the overall goal of further comprehensively deepening reforms, the Resolution adopted 300 more essential reform measures in the fields of economy, politics, culture, society, ecological conservation, national security etc. The Resolution regards the reform of the economic system as a driving force. It focuses on high-quality development through fostering new quality productive forces, and on the facilitation of high standard opening-up. Forward high-quality opening-up requires strengthening strategic synergies among builder countries of “Belt and Road Initiative”. It also requires deepening cooperation in economic, trade, production capacity, science, technology, humanities. This will give new and strong impetus into the friendly cooperative relations between China and other countries in the new era. The direction one chooses determines its path; the path one takes determines its future. China and Rwanda share similarities in governance philosophies and development process. Both countries insist on seeking truth from facts, moving with the times, adhering to a people-centered approach, continuing to unleash and develop productive forces. On the path to modernization, we explore measures suitable to our country's national conditions. China has long maintained Rwanda’s largest trading partner and largest source of foreign investments. China's investment in Rwanda is widely distributed in many fields such as infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, education, digital economy, telecommunications among others. This has made great contributions to the growth of the local economy. In addition, friendship between the two peoples have been reinforced through capacity building projects at both multilateral and bilateral levels, government scholarships, and non-governmental organisations such as Confucius Institute and Rwanda Kung-Fu Wushu Federation. The 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit will be held in Beijing from September 4thto 6th. Leaders of China and African countries will once again join hands to draw a new blueprint for the future. As an African saying goes, “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” President Paul Kagame swore-in not long ago, and the new cabinet took office. Standing at a new historical starting point, China and Rwanda will pursue development with reform and transformation. The two sides will continue to deepen political mutual trust, expand pragmatic cooperation, promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges. A high-level China-Africa and China-Rwanda community with a shared future will be built with joint efforts. The author is the Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda
