Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Chinese, Sierra Leone Trade Ministers Hold Talks
China is ready to work with Sierra Leone to explore appropriate means for all-round cooperation including trade and economic ties, a senior Chinese trade official said in Beijing Monday.
China is ready to work with Sierra Leone to explore appropriate means for all-round cooperation including trade and economic ties, a senior Chinese trade official said in Beijing Monday.
Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng said during his talks with Sierra Leone Minister of Trade and Industry Kadi Sesay here Monday that the friendly cooperative relations between China and Sierra Leone had developed smoothly since they forged diplomatic ties.
As a major part of bilateral ties, their trade and economic cooperation had constantly expanded, with trade hitting 12 millionUS dollars in 2001, up 38 percent from the previous year, Shi noted. China's economic aid and cooperation projects in the African country had also increased in recent years.
In a world where multipolarization and economic globalization were ever developing, further efforts to cement bilateral trade and economic cooperation was in the fundamental interests of both nations and their people, Shi said.
Sesay said Sierra Leone valued and dedicated itself to boosting trade and economic relations with China, adding that her country hoped to explore any possible cooperation between the two countries' small and medium-sized firms and would like invite more Chinese businesses to invest there.