Botswanian President Festus Mogae described the relations between China and Botswana, and even between China and Africa as a whole, as "excellent."

In an interview with Xinhua on Monday, Mogae appreciated China for its "generous assistance" in various sectors including agriculture, health, land surveying, and railway and road construction over the past 25 years.

"A number of countries in this region have benefited so much from China's assistance as Botswana has," he said. "Liberation movements of many other African countries, including Namibia and Zimbabwe, were assisted by China."

"Botswana for instance now enjoys an excellent beneficial relation with China," he said, adding there had been investment from China particularly in private sectors, and small Chinese traders were coming to Botswana.

Mogae also welcomed Chinese companies to tap into Botswana's mineral sectors.

He said China and Africa took a similar position regarding access to markets. "The West is complaining that China is flooding their market while the Africans are complaining the West has non-tariff barriers against commodities from the continent," he said.

"The Africans are also complaining about agricultural subsidies by Western Europe and North America. China agrees with us on that one. And we will want to look into that in (our communication) with the WTO," said the president.

On the upcoming China-Africa Cooperation Forum meeting, Mogae said, "We will also be together to find how the two sides can promote faster trade and investment, including how we can export more to China, and how China can export more to Africa. We have to look into something that both want."

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2006)