Senegal and China on Tuesday signed an agreement on the dispatch of a Chinese medical team to serve at a hospital in Dakar.

 

Senegalese Health Minister Abdou Fall and Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye signed the cooperation accord on behalf of their respective governments.

 

The Chinese medical team comprising 16 doctors is preparing to leave Beijing for Senegal to work for two years at a hospital in the suburbs of Dakar, Lu said at the signing ceremony.

 

The agreement is part of the aid package to Africa announced by Chinese President Hu Jintao at last year's Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to the Chinese ambassador.

 

The Senegalese minister hailed the agreement as a milestone in efforts by the two countries to strengthen medical cooperation. The Senegalese government will try its best to ensure cooperation with China in personnel training, medical study, as well as the treatment and control of chronic diseases, he said.

 

China will also deliver 2 million yuan (US$256,410) worth of malaria medicines under a separate agreement signed on Tuesday by the Senegalese and Chinese officials.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2007)