China and Seychelles in Victoria Saturday agreed to promote
pragmatic cooperation in tourism, fishery, human resources and
other areas.
Visiting President Hu Jintao and his Seychellois counterpart James
Michel held official talks and agreed to advance the already good
ties to a new stage.
Hu was on a state visit to Seychelles, the last leg of his
current eight-nation Africa tour.
One of the key tasks of his visit is to implement the
commitments made by China in the Beijing summit of the Forum of
China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) last November and the consensus reached
between China and the island country.
To that end, Hu proposed both to develop partnership and
increase exchanges between legislative, governmental and
non-governmental departments of the two countries in an effort to
enhance mutual understanding and trust.
To promote economic ties, Hu said that the Chinese government
encourages Chinese enterprises to import more goods from Seychelles
and invest more in the island country, in particular in
infrastructure, telecommunication, hotel and entrepot trade.
China will continue to provide economic assistance to
Seychelles, he said.
China has also pledged to train more technical and managerial
professionals and send young volunteers for offering services, such
as public health, music and Chinese language teaching.
Michel said Hu's visit was "historic" for bilateral ties between
the two countries, which have already endured the test of time.
"Facts have proven that China is a sincere friend of
Seychelles," he said.
He reiterated that Seychelles supports the one-China policy.
China and Seychelles inked five bilateral cooperation documents,
covering economic and technological cooperation, education and
investment promotion. Hu and Michel witnessed the signing of the
documents.
Hu arrived in Victoria, capital of Seychelles, on Friday.
Last November, President Michel paid a state visit to China and
attended the FOCAC Beijing Summit.
Hu is on an eight-nation Africa tour that has already taken him
to Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa and
Mozambique.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)
