COMESA Calls for Closer China, Africa TiesErastus Mwencha, secretary-general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Tuesday called for a closer relationship between China and African countries."We believe strongly that we must develop closer links, we have so much to talk about together and we believe it's high time for us to talk to China," said Mwencha. "For us in Africa," he said: "We have looked at China with keen interest because China is a model of development to us and because China has a number of similar challenges that face us." "There is a tremendous potential for us to develop trade with China because China has the capacity to provide a good market for products from Africa, and China can invest in such sectors as transport, telecommunications, manufacturing, energy, agriculture and even human resource development in Africa," he said. Mwencha said: "China has assisted African countries in many ways and for a long time, for example, in the development of social sector, education, transport, sports and so on," stressing "that help was critical in time because nobody was ready to help us then." According to Mwencha, China and Africa should not only maintain a mechanism to have a regular exchange of social and economic ideas at the ministerial level, they should also, in the long run, create a summit for the heads of state and government from both sides to increase mutual understanding and promote bilateral cooperation. |
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