STORY: Foreign expats speak highly of development in China's Hubei
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 30, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 1, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:21
LOCATION: WUHAN, China
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Wuhan city
2. various of the ongoing Hubei "two sessions"
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): STEVE CARPENTER, President of AmCham China's Central China Chapter
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): CHRISTOPHER REHM, Principal of Wuhan Yangtze International School
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MOSTAK AHAMED GALIB, Director of cross-cultural communication and the BRI research center at the Wuhan University of Technology

STORYLINE:

With the coming of China's Spring Festival, local "two sessions" are being held across China.
  
The ongoing event of central China's Hubei Province has reviewed the past extraordinary year and drawn a blueprint for the future development.
  
According to the Hubei government work report, Hubei's GDP is estimated to surpass 5.58 trillion yuan (around 777 billion U.S. dollars) last year, making a growth of 6 percent.
  
The "two sessions" also serve as an important window to look into China's development.
  
This year, Hubei has invited nearly 30 foreign guests to the "two sessions", including those from the U.S., Britain, France, Japan Bangladesh and other countries.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): STEVE CARPENTER, President of AmCham China's Central China Chapter
"I've only ever attended Hubei People's Congress and in the report out on this, so I've not been to other provinces, but this year's report, I can see that, Hubei did very well.
So I think that's quite encouraging.
I really believe 2024 is gonna be even much better. Now we're back on track, we're moving, right? I think we'll see even more growth in 2024."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): CHRISTOPHER REHM, Principal of Wuhan Yangtze International School
"That was a huge year, right? That was the year things were coming back to normal again.
We have a great relationship with the government officials that we work with. They are really incredible to work with and very supportive.
As I mentioned to other people, we serve a very specific role, we understand our role is to support the expatriate community in Wuhan and we are 100 percent invested in the growth of Wuhan, because our success is the success of Wuhan, or rather, Wuhan's success is our success."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MOSTAK AHAMED GALIB, Director of cross-cultural communication and the BRI research center at the Wuhan University of Technology
"If we look in China's case, we find that China is a country that is advocating the balancing between development and environment.
How do we find a balance between development and environment? In that point of view, China is a very good solution and in the developing world, they are eager to learn the Chinese solution."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Wuhan, China.
(XHTV)