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Lesotho PM: China-Africa Cooperation "a landmark full of hopes"

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-04 21:06

BEIJING, November 4 -- Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili Saturday afternoon called the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation "a landmark full of hopes" and thanked the Chinese and African peoples for having made the summit such a landmark.

Representing the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mosisili made a speech at the High-level Dialogue and the Second Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs which opened here.

He said the SADC had kept frequent consultations with China to get prepared for the Beijing summit and during the consultations, the SADC found that the two sides should strengthen dialogue which will be beneficial to the cooperation between enterprises of both sides.

Mosisili said the conference provided a very good opportunity for the SADC and Africa at large. "We can take this opportunity to tell China that the SADC and Africa are opportune destinations for Chinese investment," said Mosisili.

He said although Africa and China have made great achievements in bilateral economic and trade cooperation, the two still have to increase their trade volume, for the present China-Africa trade volume "only accounts for 2.1 percent of China's global trade volume."

Mosisili appreciated China's effort to help and support Africa, such as investments in improving infrastructure in the SADC and the African continent at large and assistance in Africa's fight against AIDS.

Mosisili said the SADC will provide a favorable investment environment for Chinese investors and hope China will continue to support Africa's development and support the African Union as well.

A total of 27 presidents and 6 prime ministers from Africa attended the opening ceremony of the conference, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a speech at the conference, making five proposals for increasing China's aid to Africa and strengthening China-Africa cooperation.