In the afternoon of January 10, 2012, the 9th oath-taking ceremony of newly designated Chinese ambassadors was held in the Oliver Hall, the Foreign Ministry. Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun delivered a speech and Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Ming chaired the ceremony and announced the appointment decision. Part of the officials of the Foreign Ministry was present at the event. Lv Youqing and others, altogether 11 designate ambassadors, took the solemn oath. Around 150 people, including the ambassadors' families, representatives of part of the central government agencies, local governments, businesses, educational and academic institutions and media as well as university and middle school students participated in the ceremony. It is also the first public open day of the Foreign Ministry in the New Year.
Zhang said that the oath-taking ceremony is a part of the public open day with the theme "diplomacy serves and promotes development" and a very significant event. He stressed that serving and promoting development is the main duty of diplomatic work and runs throughout the whole process of diplomatic work. He mainly introduced the efforts the Foreign Ministry had made over the past years related with this duty.
First, prevent external risks while participating actively in the reform of global economic governance structure. The Foreign Ministry has worked hard to mitigate the impact of international financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis of some countries upon China, urged related countries to take responsible policy to ensure the security of Chinese assets, properly handled various forms of international protectionism against China and helped stabilize and expand external demand. It has taken an active part in the development of global economic governance structure including the G20, strengthened coordination and cooperation with the rest of the world and pushed the international community to help each other in times of adversity.
Second, inject vigor into the development of national economy while promoting mutually beneficial cooperation. The Foreign Ministry has made full use of the political guiding function of high-level exchanges, constantly enhanced China's pragmatic cooperation with related countries, moved forward major cooperation programs, tried to break and handle the bottlenecks of long-term development of Chinese economy and made efforts to ensure our national energy sources and food security. It also boosted regional cooperation and helped strengthen the development of such mechanisms as the 10+1, 10+3, China-Japan-ROK cooperation, Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Third, facilitate foreign investment in China and overseas expansion. The Foreign Ministry has significantly facilitated the introduction of foreign investment and advanced technologies and the upgrading and optimization of domestic industrial structure. Chinese embassies and consulates abroad also played an important role of facilitating the overseas business expansion of Chinese enterprises.
Fourth, maintain China's interest abroad while serving domestic and local economic development. The Foreign Ministry properly handled and solved more than 20,000 consular protection cases and completed a number of large-size evacuation missions abroad last year. It offered full support for domestic and local economic development through various channels, actively raised assistance fund for poverty-stricken regions, seconded excellent officials to the local governments and enterprises and directly contributed to the development of domestic economy.
He noted that this year the Foreign Ministry will continue to follow the requirement of the Party Central Committee to comprehensively promote its work and create a better external environment for the 18th National Congress of the Party and the all-round implementation of the "12th five-year" plan. Chinese ambassadors abroad, as the diplomatic leaders working at the frontline, must stick to the main theme of "development", deepen their understanding, innovate with their work and improve their capacity. Therefore, they must take the core values of diplomatic staffs as the ideological foundation of serving development, understanding the overall situation as the basic requirement of serving development, diplomacy for the people as the major content of serving development and improvement of service as the effective guarantee of serving development.
He expressed confidence that the ambassadors will fulfill their functions and achieve their missions. They will drive results on their new positions which can withstand the tests of practices, the people and the history. He especially extended high tribute and sincere gratitude to their families, saying that thanks to their selfless devotion and great support our ambassadors can work at the forefront wholeheartedly and devote to the diplomatic undertaking of the motherland.
On behalf of Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and all the comrades of the Foreign Ministry, he also expressed gratitude to all the guests there and sincerely thanked friends from all circles of the society for their long-term support for the diplomatic work. He hopes they can all play the role of "friendly ambassadors" and "non-government diplomats" to spread the Chinese culture, promote China's friendly relations with the rest of the world and make active contributions to enhancing China's soft power.
Lv addressed the ceremony on behalf of the designate ambassadors and said that they will always remain loyal to the Party, to the motherland and to the people, conduct work according to the requirement of "running diplomatic affairs scientifically", promote friendly exchanges and cooperation with other countries and effectively maintain the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and enterprises abroad. Chinese ambassador to Turkey Gong Xiaosheng and designate ambassador to Cuba Zhang Tuo received media interview.
After the ceremony, Zhang and the guests visited the photo exhibition of "Diplomacy Serves and Promotes Development". Director of the Information Department Qin Gang exchanged ideas with the guests. In the morning, Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu and part of the officials of local governments, business leaders, scholars and experts participated in the seminar on "Diplomacy Serves and Promotes Development". Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs Huang Ping and Director-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs Management Lin Songtian received media interview.
The event is one of the specific measures the Foreign Ministry takes to implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and further improve diplomatic services and promote development.