November 14, 2006 was a happy occasion for the National Sports Council in Barbados, because the H.E. Liu Huanxing, Chinese Ambassador to Barbados made a donation of over a thousand pieces of sports equipment to the Council, including basketballs, footballs, table-tennis boards and rackets, badminton rackets and shuttlecocks, children's swimming gears and so on. And Mr. Hilary Beckles, Chairman of the National Sports Council, Mr. Erskine King, Director of the Council and Ms. Mona Alleyne, Deputy Director of the Council also joined the presentation ceremony.

        According to Ambassador Liu, close cooperation in sports has been conducted between China and Barbados since the establishment of diplomatic ties, and exchanges in sports has always been an unalienable part of the bilateral relations. In the coming year of 2007 and 2008, Barbados and China will be holding international games respectively, which offers a good opportunity for further sports cooperation. China shares with Barbados the same aspiration to strengthen mutual exchanges and cooperation in sports, and is willing and ready to work with Barbadian counterparts to seek new approaches and strategy for sports development. China is also committed to providing assistance in this regard within its capacity.

        Mr. Hilary Beckles, on behalf of the National Sports Council, expressed appreciation for the generous donations from the Chinese Embassy. He spoke highly of the contributions of Chinese Government toward the development of the sports in Barbados and hoped that both countries will actively explore new ideas and approaches for future sports cooperation. Director King mentioned that the equipment was donated at the exact time of need, and the council will soon make a distribution among schools and communities island-wide to let it play its role in promoting sports activities for Barbadian people. He also would like to see bilateral cooperation deepened in the sportsman training aspect, especially in athlete training and coach exchange in table-tennis, badminton, swimming, gymnastics which Chinese are at the top of the world.