China will continue to commit itself to assisting Uganda in developing its infrastructure and a self-sustained oil industry, said Chinese ambassador to Uganda Sun Heping in a recent interview.

"The Chinese government has attached great importance to the development of infrastructure in Africa, Uganda in particular, and made it one of the key areas of cooperation in the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum," said Sun in an interview with Xinhua.

The forum set up in 2000 has provided a platform for China and African countries to have dialogues and implement several packages of projects covering infrastructure, education and health funded by grants and preferential loans.

Sun said the Chinese and Ugandan governments have been in close touch on the proposed Kampala-Entebbe highway project, the first in the country, which is expected to cost about 350 million U.S. dollars.

"The project is currently in preparations and will start construction in 2011 if everything keeps the current pace," he said.

The highway funded by preferential loan from China is to provide an alternative route linking the country's capital and its international airport at Entebbe, 40km south of Kampala.

Meanwhile, China is also committed to working with Uganda in its nascent oil industry as China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is seeking to partner with Total and Tullow to build an oil refinery in the western part of the country.

The Ugandan government has been very discreet with the planning of its oil industry, trying to avoid the 'oil curse' on the continent which is the root of instability and clashes.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is campaigning for another five-year term after being in power for 24 years, has vowed not to export one drop of crude oil and insisted on building up the country's own oil industry with the complete chain of finished oil products.

"China is aimed at assisting Uganda to build its own oil industry through participating in the production of oil products, thus further developing its economy and attaining Millennium Development Goals," said the Chinese ambassador.

Uganda first announced the crude oil discovery in the western part of the country along Lake Albert in 2006. So far, Tullow, one of the foreign oil explorers operating in Uganda, said it has discovered 800 million barrels of crude oil in the area.

According to the company's estimate, Uganda has a further potential of 1.2 billion barrels more in the Albertine basin which also borders the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west.

The oil discovery also raised hope for the land-locked country to shift from oil products importer to exporter, which in turn will stimulate its economy and boost investment in business and infrastructure.