During a whirlwind visit on Friday morning to China's first
national corporation on international engineering projects,
Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira rapped the gavel on
two proposed projects: electric power development and water
reservoir construction.
"Please draft out the cooperation plans immediately. What
Guinea-Bissau needs most is development, especially better
infrastructure facilities," said the 67-year-old at the China
Machinery and Equipment Import and Export General Corporation
(CMEC).
"My biggest wish is to make power supply accessible across the
whole country," said Vieira who was here to attend the Beijing
Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation slated for Nov.
4-5.
His visit to CMEC, which established its name in Africa after
winning a contract to construct four units of 30 MW hydro-power
stations there in 1990s, came two days after an economic and
technical cooperation agreement was signed in the presence of
Chinese President Hu Jintao. Both sides have yet to disclose the
details of the agreement.
Vieira seems very enthusiastic about bringing in Chinese capital
and technology into the west African country. He said priorities
for bilateral cooperation could expand to ports, roads, bridges and
mineral resources.
Inspired by Vieira's enthusiasm, CMEC vice president Zhou Li
promised that a special team would fly to Guinea-Bissau to discuss
the details.
Vieira reminded her that apart from Guinea-Bissau, other west
African countries such as Senegal and Guinea also need power-
generation facilities badly.
Regarding China as a strategic friend who offers aids without
political strings, many African countries impressed with the
country's two-digit economic growth are seizing time to explore
cooperative opportunities during their stay in Beijing to boost
domestic economy.
Vieira said after the summit, he would visit Shanghai and
Nanjing, both of which are economically advanced in China.
Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo said earlier that more than
2,500 business deals would be under discussion at the summit,
without revealing specifics.
The China Southern Airlines announced on Wednesday a new air
route linking Beijing with Lagos, the commercial and industrial
center of Nigeria in western Africa would be launched soon.
Another double-track railway, about 1,400-km-long and involving
an investment of US$8.3 billion, will be jointly built by the
Nigerian government and the China Civil Engineering Construction
Cooperation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation has announced.
(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2006)