During a whirlwind visit on Friday morning to China's first national corporation on international engineering projects, Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira rapped the gavel on two proposed projects: electric power development and water reservoir construction.

"Please draft out the cooperation plans immediately. What Guinea-Bissau needs most is development, especially better infrastructure facilities," said the 67-year-old at the China Machinery and Equipment Import and Export General Corporation (CMEC).

"My biggest wish is to make power supply accessible across the whole country," said Vieira who was here to attend the Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation slated for Nov. 4-5.

His visit to CMEC, which established its name in Africa after winning a contract to construct four units of 30 MW hydro-power stations there in 1990s, came two days after an economic and technical cooperation agreement was signed in the presence of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Both sides have yet to disclose the details of the agreement.

Vieira seems very enthusiastic about bringing in Chinese capital and technology into the west African country. He said priorities for bilateral cooperation could expand to ports, roads, bridges and mineral resources.

Inspired by Vieira's enthusiasm, CMEC vice president Zhou Li promised that a special team would fly to Guinea-Bissau to discuss the details.

Vieira reminded her that apart from Guinea-Bissau, other west African countries such as Senegal and Guinea also need power- generation facilities badly.

Regarding China as a strategic friend who offers aids without political strings, many African countries impressed with the country's two-digit economic growth are seizing time to explore cooperative opportunities during their stay in Beijing to boost domestic economy.

Vieira said after the summit, he would visit Shanghai and Nanjing, both of which are economically advanced in China.

Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo said earlier that more than 2,500 business deals would be under discussion at the summit, without revealing specifics.

The China Southern Airlines announced on Wednesday a new air route linking Beijing with Lagos, the commercial and industrial center of Nigeria in western Africa would be launched soon.

Another double-track railway, about 1,400-km-long and involving an investment of US$8.3 billion, will be jointly built by the Nigerian government and the China Civil Engineering Construction Cooperation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation has announced.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2006)