Chinese people’s friendly witness to Reform & Opening Up

He recalled his first visit to Shanghai. “I remember when I first visited Shanghai, according to the protocol, we had to cross the whole of Shanghai. At that time, the streets in Shanghai were very crowded and narrow, with bicycles everywhere. Few streets could withstand such a large bicycle flow together with ourhuge diplomatic convoy. Today, the traffic conditions in Shanghai are very different. This was unimaginable at that time. Nowadays, there is a three-dimensional transportation network and cars are everywhere.It is amazing. In 1988, Pudong still had nothing. Now its urban planning, including construction, transportation and greening are quite impressive, and everything is well organized."

Street scene of Shanghai in the 1980s

He also commented, "Today's China is advancing with the times. It responds in a timely manner to issues like transportation, environmental protection, employment, rural development, population migration, young migrant workers entering the city and urbanization. Indeed, China's changes are not only as I described before, but also in aspects like people's way of life, dress and the way to carry out social activities. Also importantly, during the great changes, China has still maintained its cultural traditions, which set a good example for today's world."

Franco Terenzi’s expectation of China’s continued reform and opening up

Faith in great opportunities and timeless bilateral friendship

When asked about the opportunities in today’s world for San Marino to cooperate with China, the old man’s smiling eyes light up with wisdom. “When President Xi Jinping launched the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ in 2013, we realized that this is a very important strategy. The Republic of San Marino is also part of it. This project involves a large number of countries and brings great opportunities to participants. The idea is great, strategic and revolutionary! The ancient Silk Road was just for land or sea freight, while the new Silk Road connects the two with the land silk road reaching along the Arab countries to Russia and the heart of Europe. There will be not only trade contacts, but also currency exchanges. This initiative will push China to an important position in the world stage,” said Terenzi, expressing a heartfelt admiration with his words.

As the President of the World Union of Small and Medium Enterprises, Terenzi delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit on June 4, 2018.