Tunisian politicians, businessmen confident in China's fight against COVID-19

Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin (L) speaks during a seminar on "The prospects for Tunisian-Chinese post-epidemic economic complementarity" in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 22, 2020. In a conference held in Tunis on Saturday, Tunisian politicians and businessmen expressed their confidence in China's fight against COVID-19. (Photo by Adele Ezzine/Xinhua)

TUNIS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- In a conference held in Tunis on Saturday, Tunisian politicians and businessmen expressed their confidence in China's fight against COVID-19.

The conference was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin, Tunisian parliament's deputies, businessmen and economic experts.

President of the Association Namaa Touness (Development of Tunisia) Omar Belkhiria said, given that China is the second largest economy and among the fastest-growing economies in the world, "any crisis affecting China will directly harm the entire global economy."

"For this reason, we will have to unite to support this country and help it in its fight against the novel coronavirus and eradicate it as soon as possible," Belkhiria added.

"We are very confident in the ability of the Chinese government to overcome this epidemic crisis," he said

Tunisians are ready to get involved in the fight against the coronavirus by strengthening bilateral cooperation through the exploration of new common markets in the Arab zone, Africa and Europe, he added.

Said Moez Belhaj Rhouma, chairman of Tunisia's Parliamentary Committee on Agri-Food Security, Trade, Tourism, Transport and Handicrafts, also showed support to China.

"At this critical period that China is going through, Tunisia has tried to show its support, first, to the Chinese people but above all, its visionary approach to a prosperous and better developed future in the short, medium and long term with China," Rhouma said.

For his part, Wang Wenbin stressed that COVID-19 will not curb China's long-term economic and social development.

Wang said on Feb. 19, for the first time, the number of new cases confirmed in a single day across China decreased to less than 1,000.

"There is a drop in the number of the newly infected cases and a rapid increase in the number of patients cured," he said.

The positive results can be explained by "the speediness and effectiveness of the decisions taken by the Chinese government to put in place the most serious and decisive prevention measures to fight the epidemic," Wang said.

"It is true that the epidemic situation affected macroeconomic functioning and that certain service industries were strongly impacted during the Spring Festival," said Wang adding that it may continue to affect some industrial enterprises.

However, these effects "are only temporary and will not change the fundamental trend of the Chinese economy, which remains promising and stable in the long run," he said.