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- China sincere in helping Africa'
Date: 18-May-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
CHINA unreservedly supports the peaceful development of African countries and will strengthen its ties with Africa through government aid and corporate cooperation, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday in Shanghai.
China will fully carry out its promise to cooperate with African countries, Wen said at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank Group (ADB). The two-day meeting will wrap up today.
'China has a deep friendship with African countries and sincerely supports the peaceful development of Africa,'he said.
China has completed more than 900 infrastructure and public projects to support Africa over the past 50-plus years. China has granted government scholarships to almost 20,000 people from 50 African countries and sent about 16,000 medical professionals to 47 African countries.
China has remitted a combined 10.9 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion) in debt owed by African countries and another 10-billion-plus yuan cut in debt is under way.
Further cooperation will be made in areas such as agriculture, education, medicine and environmental protection.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said Tuesday that China will encourage companies, especially small and medium-sized firms, to seek investment opportunities on the continent and will welcome African financial players to step foot in China.
Wen said China will continue to offer aid to African countries through the ADB and other institutions.
Zhou said yesterday China has had a varied and constructive cooperation with the ADB since the country became an ADB member in 1985.
China also made its contribution in the development fund of ADB by promising to donate US$364 million on top of the US$314 million already donated, Zhou said.
The 2007 meeting which kicked off yesterday is another significant Africa-related event in China, following the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum held in November 2006.
Themed 'Africa and Asia: Partners in Development,'the meeting is being hosted for the first time in Asia.
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