The economic and trade cooperation between China and Mozambique has stepped into a new phase with substantive progress witnessed by rapid growth in bilateral trade volume and a large increase in China's investment in the African country, Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Tian Guangfeng said Thursday.
The promotion of friendship between the countries in recent years has created a favorable political environment for them to further develop cooperation in economy and trade, and the coming years are expected to see more fruits, Tian told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
In 2007, bilateral trade reached some 284.11 million U.S. dollars, over eight times that in 2001, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
After the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006, Mozambique's exports to China have seen a rapid increase, a radical change from the past when China's exports to the country were the main aspect of bilateral trade, Tian said.
China's direct investment in the African country has been raised largely in the past two years, said the Chinese diplomat, noting the amount reached over 60 million dollars in 2007 which ranked China as Mozambique's No. 6 foreign investor while in 2003 China only poured 10 million dollars, coming ninth.
Tian said China is investing in 69 major projects in the country and is the only one that has established an investment promotion center here.
Cooperation in infrastructure construction has also been fruitful, he said, listing such examples as Mozambique's national sport stadium and the building of Mozambique's procuratorship are under construction while the extension and amelioration project for the international airport in Maputo has also started, all of which will facilitate the African country's economic and cultural development.
Such achievements have been boosted by the close and friendly bilateral ties, which have been witnessed by the consistent support by each other in the international arena, frequent exchanges of visits by leaders of the two countries, Mozambique's long-upholding of the one-China policy, Mozambique's condemnation on those seeking "Tibet Independence" and the Mozambican government's donation to aid China's earthquake-hit regions.
Looking ahead, the Chinese ambassador said that great potential lies in the two countries' economic and trade cooperation, in agriculture and infrastructure construction particularly.
Mozambique is in a good time for development with an opportunity brought about by reform and opening-up, and it is showing pretty strong interest in learning from China's development experience, especially that of China's establishment of the special economic zones, said Tian.
The African government is blueprinting the country's new industrial estate and scientific and technology park to draw more foreign investment, said Tian, hoping that the move will create new prospects for the economic and trade cooperation between China and Mozambique.
Source: Xinhua
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