JUBA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in South Sudan on Thursday hosted an event at the University of South Sudan in Juba to share China's experience in its journey toward modernization with students and scholars.
Robert Mayom Kuoirot Deng, vice chancellor of the University of Juba, said that the path of Chinese modernization and development has the potential to inspire the South Sudanese society to realize the dream of social-economic transformation.
Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang shared with the participants China's experience on its path to modernization, especially its achievements in poverty alleviation.
Back in 2012, nearly 100 million Chinese were living below the poverty line. By the end of 2020, China had lifted all the 98.99 million rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty after eight years of efforts, declaring the elimination of absolute poverty in the country in February 2021.
"The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government accomplished this huge task in eight years," Ma said.
He noted that China and South Sudan enjoy close relations and exchanges at various levels are frequent.
"China-South Sudan economic and trade cooperation steadily advances. China is currently South Sudan's largest source of investment and one of its major trading partners. In 2024, the total import and export volume between China and South Sudan reached 466 million U.S. dollars," the ambassador said.
Natalie Kon Justine, a student at the College of Wildlife and Conservation at the University of Juba, said he is a witness to the enduring support of the Chinese government and people to South Sudan.
In January, the Chinese medical team in South Sudan visited Kon's village of Juba Nabari, north of Juba, where they provided free medical consultations and treatment to his mother and other members of the community.
"I have witnessed the Chinese medical team visiting orphanages and donating food and non-food items, some of them to the extent of visiting my community in Juba Nabari. I was surprised to see them and our community leader was happy to witness the impact their visit had on the community," Kon said.