Interview: Sino-Zimbabwean ties example of China-Africa cooperation

The new partnership between China and Zimbabwe based on stability, all-round friendship, mutual benefits and common development can be hailed as an example of Sino-African cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhang Xianyi has said.

Zhang told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that China and Zimbabwe have enjoyed profound traditional friendship. After Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, China has continued to promote the development of friendly relations with the Zimbabwean government and people. The two countries have strengthened their ties following the principles of sincerity, equality and mutual benefit, solidarity and common development.

Senior officials of the two countries' governments and parliaments have maintained close contacts and exchanged visits,

which infill vitality to the development of the bilateral relations in the new century, the Chinese ambassador said.

Zhang said that the Chinese government and people thank the Zimbabwean government and people for their firm pursuit of one- China policy and support of China's reunification cause.

Since the implementation of "Look East" policy by the Zimbabwean government, China and Zimbabwe have seen an increase in their trade, economic cooperation, people-to-people contacts and cultural exchange, the ambassador said.

In December 2003, Zimbabwe was granted the Approved Destination Status for out-bound Chinese tourist groups. A direct air route was opened between Beijing and Harare in November 2004.

In addition, many Chinese cultural and sports delegations have visited Zimbabwe since last year. In August this year, the two countries signed an agreement to set up a Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe as a move to promote cultural exchanges. All these have enhanced mutual understanding and friendship between people of the two countries, the ambassador said.

He also said that the trade cooperation between China and Zimbabwe is aimed to achieve a win-win result, benefiting both sides. He said China's aim of developing cooperation is to help Zimbabwe develop economy and raise living standards of the Zimbabwean people.

To help Zimbabwe achieve a sustainable social and economic development, China has taken infrastructure construction, human resources development and capacity building as major fields in bilateral cooperation, the ambassador said.

He said Chinese enterprises have been actively seeking cooperation opportunities with their Zimbabwean counterparts in road construction, telecommunications, irrigation and other fields over the past years. They have also paid close attention to the cooperation on human resources, having enhanced training of personnel working in agriculture, animal husbandry, medicine, computer and business management.

Substantial progress has been made in cooperation in agriculture, tobacco and mining, he said.

As for bilateral trade cooperation in the future, Zhang stressed that Zimbabwe's Look East policy provides opportunities for Chinese enterprises, estimating that the bilateral trade will surge to a new high of 500 million U.S. dollars in 2008. The figure was 283 million dollars in 2005, up 11.4 percent from the previous year.

Source: Xinhua