Gisborne, City in the North Island, New Zealand

Auckland, Feb 1 Thousands of people from across New Zealand celebrated the upcoming Chinese New Year at the 2021 Chinese New Year Festival and Market Day event in Auckland.The annual event, one of the largest Chinese New Year celebrations in New Zealand, was joined by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, Opposition leader Judith Collins and many distinguished guests, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.In her keynote speech, Ardern said that the 2021 Chinese New Year represented an opportunity to acknowledge the past year and to look forward to 2021 with optimism and with hope."People born in the year of Ox, are known to be honest, consistent, hardworking and generous. Those character traits of the Chinese community, who have joined New Zealand and contributed to New Zealand for over 170 years with all of those many traits", said Ardern.Ardern also mentioned the economic ties between New Zealand and China, particularly the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement upgrade that was signed this week."Alongside the renewed commitment to our people-to-people links, stands our on-going commitment to our economic and trade ties, which are equally long and deep and important to us," said Ardern."It is a really important milestone for both countries, and shows the strength of our relationship," said Ardern.Ruan Ping, Chinese consul general in Auckland, said in his opening remark that New Zealand was now well positioned for post-pandemic recovery."For 12 years, The China-New Zealand FTA has brought huge benefits to both countries and peoples. The upgrade protocol involves multiple areas such as trade, investment and rules, making China-New Zealand free trade more efficient. I am convinced that by working together, China and New Zealand will achieve more tangible results in pragmatic cooperation and friendly relations," said Ruan.Traditional Chinese performances including lion and dragon dances, Wushu performances, face-changing performance, magic shows, singing and dancing were showcased in the celebration.Free facemasks and hand sanitizers were provided during the event to the general public for additional safeguarding people's health, although facemasks were not mandatory by government regulation. People were also encouraged to scan the NZ Covid Tracer App for contact tracing.New Zealand is currently at Covid-19 Alert Level One with no restriction on public gatherings.( With inputs from IANS )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

GisborneFOLLOW

Gisborne, Latest News

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on Sunday announced that opening batsman Martin Guptill will be undergoing a fitness test, and upon clearing it, he will be in the fray to play as an opening batsman in the upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia. ...

New Zealand has officially suspended all diplomatic ties with Myanmar as it does not recognise the legitimacy of the new military-led government. ...

Wellington, Feb 10 The New Zealand government has formally approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, a Minister ... ...

Wellington, Feb 10 The New Zealand government has extended additional support to clean up the environment with the ... ...

Wellington, Feb 8 New Zealand employers can receive government payments from Tuesday onwards over the absence of their ... ...

Sydney Sixers wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe on Thursday was named as the Big Bash League (BBL) Player of the Tournament as voted by the on-field umpires this season. ...

Colin Munro will not be available for the Islamabad United in the 2021 edition of the PSL, starting later ... ...

Auckland, Feb 1 Thousands of people from across New Zealand celebrated the upcoming Chinese New Year at the ... ...