With the upcoming state visit by President Hu Jintao to Mozambique, China and the southern African country will see a broader prospect of stable, long-standing cooperation of mutual benefit, analysts said in Maputo on Wednesday.

 

Analysts believed that the two-day visit will surely promote the development of the traditional friendship and cement the close ties between the two countries, presenting a rosy future for bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

 

During the visit, the Chinese president and his Mozambican counterpart Armando Emilio Guebuza will witness the inauguration of China's first pilot project in the cooperation on agricultural technology at the Institute of Agricultural Research in Maputo, the first pilot center China has built since last year's Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

 

Hu's visit will also see other substantial results of the summit, at which the Chinese government announced many economic assistance projects to African countries, including ten pilot projects of cooperation in agricultural technology.

 

The close economic ties between China and Mozambique have been enhanced by the frequent top-level visits of the leaders of the two countries in the past few years.

 

During his meeting with the Mozambican president in Beijing in November 2006, Hu said the two countries have maintained friendly relations and all-round cooperation.

 

Hu told Guebuza that China had agreed to endorse Mozambique as a new tourist destination in an effort to enhance bilateral cooperation in the tourism industry and boost mutual development.

 

"The Chinese government will continue to provide aid and will encourage Chinese companies to invest in Mozambique," He said, adding that key areas for bilateral cooperation include infrastructure construction and agriculture.

 

The Mozambican president said Chinese experts, doctors and business people have played an active role in Mozambique's social and economic development, for which the Mozambican people are grateful.

 

He said his country wished to expand cooperation with China, particularly in infrastructure construction and personnel training.

 

Statistics revealed by the Chinese embassy in Maputo showed that China has built a total of 31 projects in Mozambique, including the international conference center, the office buildings of the Mozambican parliament, the foreign ministry and some garment factories.

 

The two countries have also seen increasing growth in bilateral trade over the past few years, with the total trade volume in 2006 reaching US$210 million. It was previously US$165 million in 2005 and US$119 million in 2004.

 

China and Mozambique established diplomatic ties in 1975, the very day Mozambique declared independence.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2007)