Honduran president ramps up visit to Shanghai

Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who is visiting China, ramped up her first leg of stay in Shanghai on Saturday after visits to the headquarters of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), and Huawei's Shanghai Research and Development Center.

On Saturday morning, Castro met with Dilma Rousseff, president of the NDB, at the bank's headquarters.

The visiting president was interested in learning how BRICS work and how the NDB is working for developing and financing projects in other countries, according to Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina, a member of the visiting delegate.

As she addressed the staff of the NDB, Castro said Honduras is facing challenges such as poverty and debt. But she believed Honduras will develop and prosper, and the livelihood of its people will improve if the country keeps its door open for international cooperations.

Rousseff welcomed Castro's visit and said though the NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) in 2015, it is aimed to serve countries beyond BRICS.

Rousseff reiterated the NDB's commitment to supporting infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, contributing to their development strategies and agendas.

The NDB is keen on expanding its membership, which is open to all members of the United Nations, Rousseff continued. In 2021 NDB admitted Bangladesh, Uruguay, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt as its new member countries.

Castro's following visit to the Huawei Shanghai Research and Development Center showed her interest in seeking further technological cooperation for Honduras, said Reina.

At the Huawei center, Castro attended an exhibition highlighting Huawei's latest digital technologies and then met with Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei's Board of Directors.

The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on issues such as the joint promotion of information and communication technology in Honduras, universal coverage; and digital transformation of industries including healthcare and education, green development, and talent training, according to a press release by Huawei.

Liang highly recognized President Castro's adherence to the concept of "Digital Republic", and said that Huawei hopes to contribute to Honduras' network connection and national digital transformation strategy through its own technical advantages and business experience in related fields .

Huawei has been operating in Honduras since 2008 with extensive participation in the local digital connection construction and digitalization process, according to the company.

Castro, who arrived in Shanghai on Friday, is the first Honduran president on a state visit to China since the two nations officially established diplomatic relations on March 26.

Her next leg of her visit will be Beijing, where the heads of state of the two countries will have a "historic meeting" to jointly plan and lead the future development of bilateral ties, according to the news briefing by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.