中国女子冰球队圆满结束瑞典热身赛奔赴世锦赛

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)——中国女子冰球队30日晚同瑞典Djurgården队进行最后一场热身赛,中国驻瑞典大使陈育明亲自到赛场观看比赛,和二三百名华人华侨一起为中国女冰鼓掌。

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陈育明大使在观众台上。                                  陈雪霏拍摄

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图右一,于天德领队,右二,陈育明大使,左一,教练,左二,张寿亭。后右一,商务参赞韩晓东,教练和翻译。

陈育明大使还看望了19名冰球队员,3名守门员和5名中外教练员。

陈大使说:“大家好好练,希望你们能打出精神来,带动中国的冰雪运动,你们都是国家的宝贝,都是处在最好的年龄,希望你们取得好成绩。我和观众们一起为你们加油!”

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陈育明大使与于天德教练亲切握手。       陈雪霏拍摄

这是中国女冰来瑞典后进行的第三次比赛。

中国女子冰球队领队于天德在接受北欧绿色邮报网采访时说,中国女子冰球队将参加4月4日在意大利举行的世界锦标赛。由于瑞典与意大利处在同样的时区,因此先来瑞典打三场热身赛。

“我觉得这次我们达到目的了,三场比赛下来,我们进步很大。你前两天也看了,每场每场都在进步。这是很好的热身,我希望我们到意大利能打出更好的成绩。我们的目的也是这样,一个是热身,一个是倒时差,因为意大利和这里时差正好一样,但是,这个队很强,所以我们得到了锻炼,冰球不是练出来的,是比出来的,所以我们很高兴这个俱乐部和我们打得非常好。”于天德说。

于天德还说,他们和瑞典队比较熟悉,去年请他们到北京打了三场比赛,这次,他们又来这里打三场。以后还要经常来北欧,因为冰雪运动离不开他们。中国队太需要这样的训练了。

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冰球队员休息片刻。                        陈雪霏拍摄

一直致力于推动中瑞冰球运动交流的霍尔姆斯特罗姆(Perka Holmström)在接受本网记者采访时说,我一直对中国女冰寄予厚望,她们也确实需要在这里训练一下,加强腿部锻炼,为参加意大利世锦赛做好准备。

DSC_8306瑞典Djurgården冰球俱乐部副主席K.G.思道佩尔说,该俱乐部是瑞典获得冠军最多的俱乐部,成立于1891年,历史悠久,经验丰富,总共有300多冰球队员,15000多球迷支持他们,是瑞典的最大俱乐部之一,包括各种体育运动,但冰球和足球是最大的运动。

本次热身赛中国女冰越打越好,三次比赛的成绩是1:4,0:2和0:1。第一场比赛时,瑞典观众多,第二场比赛华人华侨观众多,第三次比赛大多是华人华侨,几乎坐满了观众席。

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于天德领队说,中国冰球依然有很大发展空间。习主席提出要让3亿中国人能参加冰雪运动,这将是一个很大动力,如果全国能建起很多冰球场地,让儿童能有地方练习,那么,中国的冰球发展也会很快。

冰球队明天一大早将离开瑞典前往意大利参加世锦赛。

 

联合国秘书长潘基文访问瑞典

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--联合国秘书长潘基文30日从日内瓦抵达瑞典对瑞典进行为期两天的访问。

当天下午,潘基文与瑞典首相勒文进行了会谈。潘基文在会谈后双方举行的记者招待会上说,他们就最富有挑战性的席卷欧洲的难民问题进行了交谈。他对瑞典接受最多难民的努力表示赞赏。

“我尤其对瑞典首相提出的支持叙利亚妇女的倡议表示高度赞同。”

潘基文还表扬了瑞典在可持续发展方面,在实现2030年远景目标方面发挥的带头作用。

 

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UN Chief is going to visit Sweden to discuss refugee crisis

STOCKHOLM, March 30, (Greenpost)–UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is in Stockholm to meet Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven in Rosenbad in a few hours. 

The Secretary-General is travelling to Sweden directly from Geneva, where he kicked off a ministerial conference hosted by UN refugee agency UNHCR on Wednesday morning by calling on all countries to help resettle nearly half a million Syrian asylum seekers over the next three years.

“This demands an exponential increase in global solidarity,” he told the summit.

According to Swedish government website, Swedish PM will also talk about UN goals in 2030 and other issues.

The UN wants to resettle around 480,000 refugees by the end of 2018, but is facing a tough challenge as an increasing number of countries, including Sweden, have been tightening their borders in the past year.

Ban’s visit comes less than two weeks after the EU struck a bargain with Turkey to plug migration flows to Europe, with all refugees arriving in Greece to be sent back across the border.

More than 1.2 million migrants have come to Europe since January 2015 in the continent’s biggest migration crisis since World War Two, and around 4,000 have drowned while trying to cross the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.

But the UN has criticized the deal, fearing it could violate international law.

Sweden on the other hand, which took in a record 163,000 asylum seekers last year, was one of the main proponents behind the controversial agreement made in Brussels.

“We must put an end to the unregulated, very dangerous escape over the Mediterranean which this year alone has cost several hundred people their lives,” Löfven said at the time.

Other topics which the two leaders are likely to discuss are Sweden’s work to stop sexual violence in international armed conflicts and the ongoing peace negotiations in Syria, which are headed by Swedish-Italian diplomat Staffan de Mistura, according to the Local.

They are expected to hold a joint press conference at around 5pm, after which the UN Secretary-General is set to give a speech at a memorial event for one of his predecessors, the late Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld.

China Focus: China makes gains, faces hurdles in extending financial services

BOAO, Hainan, March 24 (Xinhua) — By removing systematic blocks and adopting new technology, China will be able to expand access to financial services to all people, according to experts at the Boao Forum conference.

Recent changes by China’s rural and private financial institutions will help relieve obstacles to inclusive finance, which have held back the nation’s anti-poverty efforts, according to experts at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, held in China’s island province of Hainan.

INCLUSIVE FINANCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

With a bad loan rate of 88.3 percent, Hainan Rural Credit Union, a rural credit cooperative in Hainan, was on the verge of collapse in 2007. Over the past nine years, the cooperative has focused on rural microcredit, lending a total of 23 billion yuan (about 3.5 billion U.S. dollars) to Hainan’s 600,000 rural households. The non-performing loan rate has dropped to less than 2 percent.

Thanks to financial education and agricultural training provided to borrowers, Wu Weixiong, board chairman of Hainan Rural Credit Union, isn’t worried about the 23 billion yuan in loans his cooperative has made to the island’s rural population.

“Our staff are experts in both finance and agriculture, which enables them to help farmers acquire necessary knowledge and techniques to make a living and pay back the loan,” he told attendees at the “Inclusive Finance” Boao sub-forum.

Private financial institutions are also making financial services much more accessible to people who are underserved by traditional banks. Ant Financial, a financial arm established last June by the E-commerce giant Alibaba, has lent a total of 45 billion yuan to farmers, online merchants, restaurant owners and mom-and-pop stores, extending loans to 800,000 borrowers who have trouble accessing financial services.

Despite the efforts, a large proportion of the population still lacks access to financing, according to the experts.

NOT ALL HAVE ACCESS

“The core of the problem is that inclusive financing is badly needed by rural people,” said Dong Wenbiao, board chairman of China Minsheng Investment Corp. Ltd., the nation’s largest private equity firm.

The nation still has 55.75 million impoverished people in rural areas, official statistics showed.

Dong blamed “serious systematic deficiency” for the problem, saying that China’s existing financial establishments, including the banking and insurance systems, don’t support expanding access to finance. Large banks are inclined to lend to big companies with lower risk.

The lack of an individual credit system, high operational costs and risks, and the absence of an information-sharing mechanism have all worsened the situation, according to Li Yang, vice director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Inclusive finance will play a key role in China’s goal of building a “well-off society” by 2020. The nation’s financial industry should make itself available to all people, said Wu Xiaoling, vice chairwoman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress and former vice governor of the central bank.

More than 50 countries have set formal targets and goals for inclusive finance in recent years, indicating growing global recognition that access to financial services plays a critical role in reducing extreme poverty, boosting shared prosperity, and supporting sustainable development.

SYSTEMATIC REFORMS

To clear hurdles, the State Council in January released the 2016-2020 Plan on the Development of Inclusive Finance, China’s first national strategic plan on financial inclusion. It targeted building inclusive financial service and security systems that provide reasonably-priced, convenient and secure services to small companies, farmers, low-income urban households, the poor, the disabled and the elderly. It vowed to boost inclusive finance’s development to a level comparable to the global average by 2020.

The government also reiterated in a report in March the development of inclusive finance to increase services for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses as well as for rural areas.

“To tackle the issue, systematic reforms are required,” said Dong, suggesting that farmers should be endowed with land rights that can be viewed as assets when obtaining loans.

Ellen Richey, vice chairwoman of Risk and Public Policy at Visa Inc., said that China already has an advantage in fostering inclusive finance, as 79 percent of its residents have financial accounts, much higher than most countries. But account holders generally only use them for basic banking services or use them infrequently.

“The challenge to inclusive finance in China is not necessarily to get someone an account, but to give them an efficient way to use it,” she said, adding that electronic payment and mobile phones will enable China to bypass expensive investment in infrastructure, such as terminals and telecommunications.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley called on lenders to form trust relationships based on human potential, rather than just looking at assets. Shipley said that micro-finance requires collaboration between multiple players, including governments, financial institutions and NGOs.  Enditem

Commentary: Lancang-Mekong cooperation offers new opportunities

   BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) — The first leaders’ meeting of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism (LMC) in Sanya, China, is expected to provide political guidance and a roadmap for subregional cooperation between China and the five Southeast Asian nations of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The LMC mechanism was initiated in 2014 in accordance with the strong will of the six countries along the river for development and prosperity.

The LMC is a self-initiative of the six countries and is tailored to their specific needs.

Compared with other cooperation mechanisms, the LMC is more practical, more effective and more in line with people’s aspirations.

With the step-by-step implementation of the LMC mechanism, one-day rail travel along the Lancang-Mekong region will become reality as lines of the Pan-Asia Railway network are under construction.

The mechanism will not only facilitate the movement of people and goods between those countries, but also speed up the region’s development as a whole.

Since the LMC mechanism was proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in November 2014, three meetings of senior officials, three meetings of the working teams, as well as a foreign ministers’ meeting have been held to launch the dialogue and cooperation. Agreement has been reached on 78 early-harvest projects covering water resource management, poverty alleviation, public health, infrastructure, personnel exchanges, science and technology.

The LMC mechanism has three pillars — political and security issues, economic affairs and sustainable development, and social affairs and people-to-people exchanges.

With consensus and strong will of the six countries, the LMC mechanism is showing tremendous potential.

Apart from the six countries, the LMC mechanism is also conducive to the strengthening of cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and lend a helping hand to the regional bloc’s integration.

“The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism comes as a natural result of our existing cooperation, and will take full advantage of our geographic proximity, traditional friendship and complementary economies,” Li told the Sanya meeting on Wednesday.

Li said China firmly supports ASEAN’s integration and the LMC will supplement China-ASEAN relations.  Enditem

 

Spotlight: China’s economic transition set to boost Asian integration despite slower trade growth

   BOAO, March 22 (Xinhua) — Regional economic integration in Asia is expected to deepen further as China moves up the international value chain despite weakening trade growth, experts who follow China’s ongoing economic transition said on Tuesday.

“China’s growing importance in the value chain will inevitably influence its economic and trade structures with these major economies (in Asia),” said Chen Lan, director of Deloitte Research at Deloitte China, in a report for the ongoing Boao Foroum for Asia in Hainan, China.

The report said that China’s future industrial upgrade through innovation will enhance its position in the global value chain as rising production costs and labor costs in the country may weaken its position as the “world’s factory.”

“Despite slowed economic growth during the 13th Five-Year Plan, China still remains one of the most important global consumer markets,” Chen wrote.

China is now in the middle of a painstaking transition from growth driven by investment and exports to growth led by consumption and the services sector. The official economic forecast for this year is between 6.5 percent and 7 percent, much slower than the wildly high growth rates of over 10 percent per annum a few years ago. Last year the economy grew by 6.9 percent.

China aims to double its per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020 compared to 2010, a target that will catapult the world’ s most populous country to the status of a relatively well-off society.

Speaking at a press conference in Boao on Tuesday, Justin Yifu Lin, former chief economist of the World Bank, said that he expects China’ s economic growth to average around 6.5 percent over the next five years. Coupled with the expected appreciation of the yuan, this would mean China’ s per capita GDP is likely to cross the mark of 12,000 U.S. dollars at around 2020.

Lin said the Chinese economy remains vigorous as China targets more sustainable and inclusive growth. According to a new index unveiled by his team to measure the inclusive structural transformation of different economies, China has a score that is among the highest worldwide. The index is based on the New Structural Economics advocated by Lin, who believes that structural changes are the foundation of sustained and inclusive growth along the path to development.

Experts at the forum highlighted the slowdown in world trade growth as a challenge for Asia. A report commissioned for the forum by a team led by Lin Guijun, a scholar from China’s University of International Business and Economics, said that growth in Asia’s merchandise trade has slowed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis since 2008 as world trade growth also slowed. Ditto for global GDP growth, a situation that has not been seen in decades, though trade growth in Asia remains far more robust than that of the rest of the world.

China is now the world’s leading trader and occupies a key position in the international value chain as a manufacturing hub. It is a top trading partner for major economies including Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and has inked free trade agreements with the latter two.

Lin Guijun said that Asian economies have now placed more importance on the region’ s services as global services grow quickly and investment flows increase.

More than 80 percent of the service-related free trade agreements signed by Asian countries focus on internal liberalizations, he said.

China has promised to further open up its economy while pursuing more sustainable and inclusive growth. It is relying on the services sector to get the medium-high growth it needs to achieve the important milestones in its economic development by 2020.

Chen said economic integration in Asia is set to deepen further as China keeps steadfast to the principle of opening-up, with initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative helping to open up China’s hinterlands through trade links covering land and sea.

This will help drive infrastructure demand from ASEAN members and in turn boost their economic development. While there are risks to the economy like the spreading of financial market volatilities, China’ s promotion in the global value chain has provided new growth opportunities for industries in regional countries like Indonesia, especially in the textile industry.

Chen said the degree of economic integration among China, Japan, South Korea and members of ASEAN has increased since China’ s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, with stronger correlation unfolding between industries, within industries, and between manufacturing and delivery.

She also said mutual investment between China and ASEAN is now growing fast and so too is the demand for yuan clearing. Chinese banks like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have established clearing banks in countries in the region.  Enditem

Interview: Russian Far East official expects more Chinese investment

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, March 23 (Xinhua) — The Primorsky region in the Russian Far East will see more Chinese investment, said Vladimir Miklushevsky, the region’s governor.

More than half of the foreign trade turnover of Primorsky is connected with Northeast China, Miklushevsky told Xinhua.

“We are now working with 200 Chinese companies investing in agriculture, manufacturing as well as trade. And we’re very excited to increase this investment flow.”

He noted that projects in the priority areas of farm products, logistics, industrial and food production have already started in the region.

The governor said investors can enjoy a number of tax benefits in those sectors and in the meantime, foreign investment will bring benefits to local residents.

Miklushevsky also said cultural, scientific and educational ties is the basis for economic trade relations between the two nations.

Despite global financial woes and Russia’s economic difficulties, new opportunities are emerging for the region’s ties with China, he said.

“A huge influx of Chinese tourists visited Primorsky. In 2015, the number of Chinese tourists doubled compared with the previous years, and our tourist income increased 30 percent,” said Miklushevsky.

The governor said authorities are preparing for this year’s East Russia Economic Forum scheduled for Sept. 6-7.

“The first forum had a great success, and the Chinese delegation was the largest and the most active one. They showed great interest toward Russia,” he added.  Enditem

 

China will maintain medium-high growth: premier

  BOAO, Hainan, March 24 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday that China will follow a medium-high track of growth and pay attention to the quality and benefits of development.

The premier said this at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) held in the southern province of Hainan.

Li said the nation will endeavor to maintain medium-high growth in the long term and promote the development toward the medium-high end.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Asia’s New Future: New Dynamics and New Vision.”  Enditem

China announces detailed rules on VAT reform

   BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) — China’s financial and taxation authorities announced Thursday a set of detailed rules on VAT reform.

Starting from May 1, VAT of 5 percent will be levied on homes if they are resold less than two years after purchases, according to a joint statement from the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation.

Those sold after the two-year window are exempt from the levy.

Currently, homes that are sold less than five years after they were purchased are subject to a 5 percent business tax.

As of April 8, a tariff, VAT and consumption tax will be applied to  imported items sold by cross-border e-commerce companies, to support the healthy development of the industry, the statement said.

The current tax rate on most imported products sold by e-commerce firms is 10 percent.

A business tax-to-VAT pilot began in 2012 and has been gradually expanded. It had reduced the tax burden of enterprises, most of which are small companies, by 641.2 billion yuan by the end of 2015. Enditem

中国女子冰球队访问瑞典热身备战世锦赛

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)——中国女子冰球队26日与瑞典动物园(DJurgården)冰球队大战,为参加四月四日在意大利举行的世界锦标赛做准备。

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中国女子冰球队领队于天德在斯德哥尔摩冰球场接受记者采访。陈雪霏拍摄。

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教练Matthew Bourgois, 于天德和Perka Holmström. 陈雪霏拍摄

中国女子冰球队领队于天德在接受北欧绿色邮报网记者采访时说,本次来瑞典访问主要是为参加四月初在意大利举行的世界锦标赛打三场热身赛,因为瑞典的冰球水平比较高,瑞典的冰球俱乐部和国家队都是世界上比较好的队伍。所以我们到这里来主要是在比赛之前打个热身赛,锻炼锻炼队伍,适应一下比赛。目的是要打好世界锦标赛。

世界锦标赛将在4月4日举行。

于天德说,中瑞之间在冰球运动方面以前就有合作。去年中国邀请瑞典队员到中国打三场比赛,这次他们19个队员3名守门员也将在瑞典打三场比赛。有两个中国教练,一个加拿大教练。

于领队说中国女子冰球队每年都参加世锦赛。

DSC_8306瑞典动物园冰球俱乐部副主席K.G.思道佩尔说,动物园俱乐部是瑞典获得冠军最多的俱乐部,成立于1891年,历史悠久,经验丰富,总共有300多冰球队员,15000多球迷支持他们,是瑞典的最大俱乐部之一。

他说,动物园俱乐部有各种体育运动,但冰球和足球是最大的运动。

DSC_8338他说,中国女子冰球队与瑞典同行对决是很好的比赛,你可以看出中国女队打得不错,如果她们继续努力,一定会打出很好的水平。中国可以从小培养更多儿童开始滑冰,进而打冰球,打的人多了,水平自然会上去。这样互相访问打比赛,也是很好的训练方法。

DSC_8310中国队除了两位中国教练外,还请了加拿大教练,专门训练守门员。

今天的比赛是首场热身赛。今后的两场比赛将于3月28日下午13:00和3月30日晚上19:00在Stora Mossens Ishallen, Bromma举行。

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DSC_8314 中国女子冰球队在斯德哥尔摩冰球场的英姿。陈雪霏 拍摄。

图片新闻:河南鹿邑举行老子诞辰2587周年纪念活动

北欧绿色邮报网报道(编辑陈雪霏)--3月23日,市民在河南省鹿邑县太清宫参加老子诞辰2587周年纪念活动。

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当日,河南省鹿邑县举行纪念老子诞辰2587周年拜典活动。本次活动为期3天,以“弘扬老子文化,传承华夏文明,加强交流合作,构建和谐社会”为主题。

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据传说,农历二月十五日是老子生日,后人为纪念老子,在鹿邑县老君台、太清宫兴起庙会进行祭拜,唐朝时达到鼎盛。

老子主张无为而治。崇尚人与自然的和谐。
(新华社记者 李博 摄)

来源:新华社

密西根大学罗斯教授获得斯德哥尔摩水奖

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--3月22日在斯德哥尔摩举行的世界水日研讨会上,斯德哥尔摩水奖干事贝尔格林宣布,美国密西根大学琼.罗斯(Joan Rose)获得2016年斯德哥尔摩水奖。

DSC_8160贝尔格林在接受北欧绿色邮报网采访时说,罗斯教授不但是一个卓越的研究员,而且在把科研成果转化成决策,对决策者进行深刻影响方面也做出了卓越的贡献。

例如,2004年世界卫生组织制定的饮用水质量标准的制定,罗斯教授发挥了关键作用。她是研究五大湖区水吸虫病的主要研究人员,发现了病原,病因和病理。这种病在2011年在瑞典北部城市就发生过。由于雨水过多,污水处理不到位等原因,水里的带有病源的虫子容易生长。

贝尔格林说,正是由于罗斯教授的发现,人们很快意识到了病因,因此,也避免了人们因此而死亡。

罗斯教授不但在美国研究水质问题,她也到非洲,亚洲等许多国家进行水质研究。

贝尔格林说,目前,世界上的污水只有不到20%得到了处理,其他污水都没有经过处理就排出去了。因此,加强水的质量管理非常重要。

DSC_8158罗斯教授在得到获奖消息后十分高兴。她也强调今后人们最应该注意的就是水的质量问题。

当问到罗斯教授的获奖能给中国哪些鼓舞和启示时,贝尔格林说,其实,中国早先有很多很好的习惯和做法,尤其是循环发展,循环利用的方法和习惯是非常好的。西方人是线性思维,容易造成浪费。因此,东西方确实有很多方面可以互相借鉴。