THIS HELPS.... NOT
China Pledges Continued Support for Nation
14 November 2010
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Maputo — Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jibao on Saturday told his Mozambican counterpart, Aires Ali, that China will continue to give material and financial support to Mozambique so that the country can rapidly eliminate hunger and poverty.
Wen was speaking during an audience he granted to Ali, shortly after both men had attended the opening, in the Chinese city of Macau, of the Third Ministerial Conference on Economic and Commercial Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. He claimed that Mozambique is at the top of the agenda among the countries with which China maintains special links of friendship and of economic, social and commercial ties.
The Conference is organised by "Forum Macau", a body set up in 2003 to stimulate cooperation between China and members of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries). All CPLP members except Sao Tome and Principe are also members of Forum Macau. Sao Tome could not join even if it wanted to, since in 1997 it opted to recognise Taiwan, thus prompting China to cut off diplomatic relations at once.According to Wen Jibao, Forum Macau has successfully encouraged trade between China and the Portuguese speaking world. In 2005 this trade stood at just 10 billion US dollars a year, but in 2008 it reached 77 billion dollars, much more than the 50 billion dollars programmed.
In 2003, Wen added, it had been virtually impossible to buy anything in China made in most of the CPLP member states. But today it is common to find such imports in ordinary Chinese homes, including coffee (grown in Brazil and Angola) and wine (from Portugal.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Ali declared that China "even at the most critical moments of the international financial crisis, has remained determined to assist the socio-economic programmes of developing countries".
He added that he was firmly convinced that the Plan of Action for Economic and Commercial Cooperation for the period 2010-2013, to be approved by this conference, "will open broader horizons in strengthening our cooperation".
Asia, Australia, and Africa
During his speech, Ali stressed "it would not be just were we not to recognise that our relations with China have, since the early days of our national liberation struggle, undergone noteworthy development witnessed by the high level of cooperation in several areas, and the constant exchange of high level delegations, as shown by our presence here".
Ali was last in China in June, when the Chinese authorities announced that they were making a further 200 million US dollars available to Mozambique mainly for the building of infrastructures. Following Ali's invitation, a delegation from some of the largest businesses in Shanghai visited Mozambique in August. If all their investment promises are kept, this group of businesses will invest 13 billion dollars in Mozambique over the next five years
