High-ranking African Officials Visit South China's Guangdong ProvinceA group of high-ranking officials from 40 African countries arrived in Guangzhou Friday to start a four-day visit of South China's Guangdong Province, a forerunner of China's reform and opening up.Tang Bingquan, vice governor of Guangdong, briefed the group consisting of 185 African officials, who had just attended the China-Africa Cooperation Forum held in Beijing, from October 10 to 12, on the local economic development. Tang told the guests that Guangdong has been cooperating with African countries since the 1960s. The Province began to put more emphasis on exploring the African market in recent years, said Tang, adding that Guangdong's export and import volume with Africa reached 1.563 billion U.S. dollars in 1999. The vice governor said that Guangdong and Africa complement each other in their economies. Africa is an important market and investment priority for Guangdong, he said. Guangdong Province attaches great importance to developing economic and trade cooperation with African countries, Tang said, adding that he hopes the visit by African officials will further the cooperation between the two sides. |
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