China, COMESA enjoy bright future in economic cooperation: official

China and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will enjoy a very bright future in cooperation of mutual benefit due to stronger economic links between the two sides in recent years, Chinese First Special Representative to COMESA Hu Shouqin said Monday in Kampala.

While making the remarks at the 9th COMESA Summit and the First COMESA Business Summit, Hu, who is also the Chinese ambassador to Zambia, said China has experience and technology suitable to COMESA.

"We are mutually complementary in agriculture, energy, environment protection, communications and many other fields," he said.

Trade between China and COMESA has been growing in recent years. According to COMESA statistics, the volume of trade between China and COMESA in 1998 totaled 42.629 million US dollars, and the number increased to 822.97 million dollars in 2002, 19.3 times of that in 1998. In 2002, the annual export of some COMESA member countries to China was over 100 million US dollars.

With Uganda granted destination position for Chinese tourists, COMESA now has eight member states as destinations for Chinese tourists, which means more and more Chinese tourists will be traveling to the COMESA region, doing business or market investigation, injecting vigor to the economic development of these countries.

He said the Chinese government is willing to enhance coordination and cooperation with COMESA, ensuring developing countries to benefit from the process of globalization.

"The Chinese government is ready to strengthen coordination with COMESA member countries in the process of international economic rules formulation and multiple trade negotiations, to

jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries," he said.

"The Chinese government is also ready to make joint efforts with COMESA for deepening our economic and trade cooperation," he added.

Hu said the Chinese government encourages its enterprises to "go global," to invest in the COMESA region, and to contribute to the regional integration of COMESA.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to developing mutually beneficial cooperation with COMESA.

In 1999, the Import and Export Bank of China signed a credit agreement, valued at about 20 million dollars, with Trade and Development Bank for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA Bank).

In May 2000, the People's Bank of China, on behalf of the Chinese government, joined the PTA Bank and became a shareholder outside the region.

The representatives of the Chinese government attended the 7th and 8th COMESA summits in 2002 and 2003.

In 2004, Hu was invited to attend the 9th COMESA Summit and the First COMESA Business Summit as the Chinese first special representative to COMESA.

China is the third country after France and the United States to appoint a special representative to COMESA.

Zambia-based COMESA, set up in December 1994 to replace the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa, is an African regional grouping of 19 countries with about 380 million people and a combined gross domestic product in excess of 180 billion US dollars.

The countries that make up COMESA are Angola, Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, the Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.