China Grants 750-million-US-dollar Debt Relief to Africa

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 08, 2003

China Grants 750-million-US-dollar Debt Relief to Africa

The Chinese government has decided to cancel the debts of African countries to China worth 750 million US dollars, an official from the Chinese Consulate Generalin Lagos said Friday.

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The Chinese government has decided to cancel the debts of African countries to China worth 750 million US dollars, an official from the Chinese Consulate Generalin Lagos said Friday.

Yang Jinquan, spokesman of the Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, told Xinhua that visiting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qiao Zonghuai announced the cancellation of the debts of African countries at an agreement signing ceremony of a grant of 2.5 million dollars from China to Nigeria on Thursday in Nigeria's capital Abuja.

Qiao and Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mallam Saidu Samaila Sambawa signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.

They also deliberated on the need for consensus between the twocountries for reforms in the United Nations system as well as the democratization of decision-making in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Industrial Development Agency.

The bilateral talks covered all grounds of the relationship between China and Nigeria including the development of the agricultural sector, the construction of small dams and the plans for the establishment of rural telephones across the most populousAfrican country with a population of over 126 million.

Sambawa, who observed that the level of activities have increased in the last four years, quoted Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as saying that it was essential for "Nigeria to maintain a cordial relationship with China because China has the fastest growth rate in its economy with over 1 billion people to feed; basically every country has a lesson to learn from your country."

The Chinese vice foreign minister said that China desired to work closely with Nigeria and called for the country's support at the forthcoming conference of the China-Africa forum scheduled to be held on Dec. 15-16 in Addis Ababa.

Qiao arrived in Nigeria Tuesday for a five-day working visit and is scheduled to leave the country Saturday to Madagascar. Qiao's three-nation African visit also took him to Cote d'Ivoire.

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