China announces new trade policy for African nations
Saturday, November 04, 2006 12:24 [IST]
Beijing, Chinese today announced a slew of new liberal trade and aid policy for resource-rich African nations during the largest-ever Sino-African summit here.
China will provide 3 billion US dollars of preferential loans and 2 billion US dollars of preferential buyer's credits to Africa in the coming three years, Chinese President Hu Jintao said while addressing the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
"Common development is the shared aspiration of the Chinese and African peoples," he told an audience of 41 African heads of state or government, senior officials from 48 African countries and delegates from international organisations.
"We are committed to pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation to bring the benefits of development to our peoples," he said.
The two-day summit, which focusses on "friendship, peace, cooperation and development", has been widely acclaimed as the most important and largest meeting between China and African leaders since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.
As the world's fourth largest economy, China has doubled its support for the heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries in recent years.
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