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本期嘉宾
李修文 EOIN O’LEARY
爱尔兰驻华大使
李修文，英文名Eoin O’Leary, 是于2017年履职的爱尔兰驻华大使。履职两年期间，李修文大使已经到南京来过四次，拜访过南京的高校，也参加过南京市长国际咨询会议。今年6月，李修文大使出现在南京第三届三叶草杯中学生演讲比赛现场，为参加比赛的小选手加油助威。在今天的Top Talk中，我们有请到爱尔兰驻华大使李修文，请他谈谈江苏与爱尔兰之间的合作，他眼中的中国印象，以及他对“一带一路”的理解。
江苏与爱尔兰在教育方面有频繁的交流与合作
李修文大使介绍说，科克郡与江苏在教育方面的交流，在过去的5到10年里发展非常迅速。“‘三叶草杯’中学生演讲比赛在南京刚刚起步的时候，南京的400所中学里，只有20所参加比赛”，这个比赛现在已经成为江苏与科克郡之间的一个文化合作品牌。第三届三叶草杯英语演讲比赛的冠军队伍由前两届的一支，增加到今年的两支，均获得为期一周赴爱尔兰游学的机会。除此之外，此次比赛获第二名的三支队伍，还被邀请参加在上海举办的爱尔兰布鲁姆日，与李修文大使、何莉总领事以及在上海的爱尔兰社团共同参与了爱尔兰传统节日的庆祝活动，在文化活动中加深了江苏的中学生对爱尔兰文化的了解和认知。
李修文大使为“三叶草杯”获胜小选手颁奖
“三叶草杯”比赛现场
Mr. O’Leary introduced that Cork County Council has a training arrangement with Jiangsu and that has developed very rapidly over the last 5 to 10 years. “When Shamrock English Speaking Contest just started, only 20 out of the 400 middle schools in Nanjing participated in this contest”, but now this competition has become a culture brand between Jiangsu and Cork. The first prize of the 3rd Shamrock English Speaking Contest went to two teams this year instead of the previous one team and won the children a chance to a one-week study tour in Ireland. The second prize winners, three teams, were invited to celebrate the Blooms Day in Shanghai to have a deeper understanding of Irish culture.
“三叶草杯”比赛现场
“三叶草杯”获胜选手参加上海布鲁姆日
除了中学生演讲比赛，爱尔兰和江苏在高校当中也开展广泛的交流和合作。李修文大使也曾经拜访过南京信息工程大学和南京工业学院。
Ireland also shares cooperation with Jiangsu in college education and exchanges. Mr. O’Leary paid visits to Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Nanjing University of Technology who has a strong collaboration with the technological university of Dublin, the Tellus Campus office.
希望双边关系能够持续发展
2019年是中爱建交40周年，在谈到中爱双边关系的发展时，李修文大使说，“在改革开放后的四十年里，中国在各个领域都有了长足的发展，爱尔兰很高兴参与其中。在过去的40年里，中爱政治关系稳定，经贸领域的交流几乎增长了一百倍。我们现在有170亿欧元的双边贸易，我们有2500名中国学生在爱尔兰的高校里学习，每年有10万中国游客来爱尔兰旅游，有2万中国人在爱尔兰生活，在爱尔兰工作。”李修文大使还说：“我们现在还有传统的中国社区，比如今年，都柏林的华人过了一个非常有中国特色的春节，庆祝活动持续了两周。都柏林的每一个标志性建筑都被装饰成红色，点缀了中国元素。我那个时候正好在家里，跟大家一起庆祝中国新年。我希望这样的活动还能延续下去，也希望在未来几年，我们能够从各个方面加强中爱双边关系。”
2019 marks 40 years of diplomatic relations between China and Ireland. Commenting on the bilateral relationship over the years, Mr. O’Leary said: “Over the forty years since opening up, China has really expanded in every area and Ireland has been delighted to be part of that. Over the 40 years, our political relations have been excellent and economic relations have grown a hundredfold. We have now 17 billion euro in mutual trade. We have 2500 Chinese students studying in Irish universities. We have 100000 Chinese tourists coming to Ireland every year, we have 20000 Chinese people living in Ireland, working in Ireland. We now have strong Chinese heritage communities, for instance this year, Dublin had a very developed Chinese New Year festival two weeks long where they reddened every major building in Dublin to celebrate the New Year. I was home for that, it was great to be there. We hope in the coming years that we can deepen all of those relationships. ”
中国的发展让全球有目共睹
在谈到新中国建国70年以来的发展、变化时，李修文大使感慨颇深。他说他正在读一本历史书，是有关于1840年以来的中国思想史。“中国经历了一个世纪的屈辱，外国列强瓜分中国，侵略中国等等。自1949年以来，中国取得了令人难以置信的进步。1949年的中国，有5、6亿人口，平均寿命是35岁。而现在有14亿人口，平均预期寿命达到70多岁。”
On the developments and progress China has made since 1949, Mr. O’Leary couldn’t help exclaiming that “China went through a century of humiliation where foreign powers were cutting up China, taking all the wealth, and invading and so on. And since 1949, China has made incredible progress. When you think of the China in 1949, there were five hundred, six hundred million people and average life expectancy is 35. It’s now fourteen hundred million people with an average life expectancy in the high seventies, 76 or 75”.
“中国每年有700多万学生上大学，这比爱尔兰的人口还要多。自1978年改革开放以来，中国在经济上取得了惊人的进步。” “现在的北京是一个无现金社会”，李修文大使进一步说道，“大家都用微信支付等等来买单。所以在这个层面上，我认为中国应该为自己的发展感到骄傲。中国让7、8亿人口脱贫，极大地降低了世界贫困人口率，这个成就世界有目共睹。”
“I think over seven million students a year go to university in China and that is bigger than Ireland’s population. Economically, since the opening up in 1978, China has made incredible progress.” Mr. O’Leary commented that now Beijing is a cashless society, everybody is paying their meals or tea with Wechat. He thought China is to be very proud of the development. China took seven hundred, eight hundred million people out of absolute poverty and that made a very significant contribution.
“一带一路”倡议是合作的基石
今年4月在第五届中国与全球化论坛上，李修文大使说：“爱尔兰认为‘一带一路’倡议是合作的基石，我们对此非常感兴趣。” 在接受Hello Jiangsu采访时，李修文大使进一步解释说，“‘一带一路’是一个非常好的倡议，在发展中国家存在着巨大的基础设施赤字。我们需要更多的道路，更多的学校，更多的港口，提高农业发展等等。”
On the 5th edition of China and Globalization Forum held in Beijing in April, Mr. O’Leary addressed that Ireland considers the Belt and Road initiative to be a very good cornerstone. When having the interview from Hello Jiangsu, Mr. O’Leary explained further about his concept. “The Belt and Road initiative is a very good initiative, the world has a massive infrastructure deficits, particularly in developing world. We need more roads, more schools, more ports, the agricultural development and anything that contributes that is good.”
“我们邀请了约翰·哈利根部长参加‘一带一路’论坛，他是创新和研究部长，参加了贸易分论坛，爱尔兰在欧盟内部也积极倡导‘一带一路’。” 李修文大使说。“我们希望所有这些平台共同努力，确保我们面对未来的挑战。世界人口已经接近100亿了，作为一个世界共同体，我们现在做得越多、越快，我们的未来就会越美好。”
“We had a minister John Halligan came to the Belt and Road Forum. He is a minister for innovation and research. He took part in the trade sub forum.”Mr. O’Leary explained that Ireland itself is pushing within the European Union of the same topics at the Belt and Road, and the European Union now has a connectivity platform, “and we would like all of these platforms to work together to ensure that we face the challenges of the future. With the world heading to ten billion people, the more investment we do together and the quicker we do it, the better.”
(Source:ourjiangsu.com)
