#zimbabwe President Mugabe’s State visit to China unpacked The day President Mugabe met Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang in Harare last year The visit from August 24 to 28 2014 was President Mugabe’s thirteenth Visit to China and third State visit I. AT the invitation of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Robert Mugabe paid a state visit to China from August 24 to 28, 2014. It was President Mugabe’s thirteenth visit and third state visit to China. During the visit, President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Mr Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, held official talks with President Mugabe. The two presidents witnessed the signing of nine bilateral co-operation documents such as the agreement on economic and technological co-operation between the two governments and other documents in fields of food, financing, etc. President Xi held a welcome ceremony including a 21-gun salute, as well as a state banquet for President Mugabe in Beijing. President Mugabe also visited the north-western province of Shaanxi and southern province of Guangdong. II. This visit is quite successful and fruitful in promoting both political trust and pragmatic cooperation. Political mutual trust strengthened Both sides cherish the long friendship between the two countries forged during their glorious days of fighting together against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony. Over the 34 years since the establishment of the diplomatic ties, the two sides have understood and supported each other on issues regarding each other’s core interests and major concern, and have helped each other in their development progress. President Xi Jinping stressed that the Chinese people value friendship and will never forget the old friends with whom China once weathered hard times together and understood and supported each other. The two sides are ready to work together to carry forward the traditional friendship and strengthen co-operation in various fields. President Xi Jinping said that China and Zimbabwe will continue to be good friends, good partners and good brothers with equal treatment, mutual support, mutual benefit and win-win results and common development. China will continue to stick to principles, uphold justice, and firmly support Zimbabwe in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and interests of development. The two sides introduced to each other their domestic political and economic situations and exchanged experience in state governance and administration as well as in reform and opening-up. As China and Zimbabwe are both at an important stage of national construction, and are facing similar development tasks, the two sides agreed to maintain exchanges of governing experiences and learn from each other, so as to improve their own capacity building. The two sides exchanged views on China-Africa relations and other international issues, and reached broad consensus. As President Mugabe is the chairperson of Sadc and will chair AU early next year, the Chinese side looks forward to seeing Zimbabwe play an even bigger role in African affairs. The Zimbabwean side welcomes China to get more involved in peace and security affairs of Africa, and support Africa’s independent development. The two sides agreed to strengthen coordination and cooperation, jointly promote the all-round transformation and upgrading of the new type of China-Africa Strategic Partnership. They also agreed to enhance communication and co-ordination on international and regional affairs. Pragmatic cooperation promoted. China is ready to work together with Zimbabwe to push forward the comprehensive and in-depth development of the bilateral relations to further benefit the peoples of both countries. As President Xi Jinping said, the Chinese side supports Zimbabwe’s efforts to develop the economy and improve people’s livelihood, and will continue to cultivate construction talents for Zimbabwe, discuss with Zimbabwe the cooperation pattern and financing channel of reciprocity and mutual benefit, and pass on and transfer applicable agricultural technologies to help Zimbabwe increase the grain output and agricultural income. China is ready to take part in the construction of Zimbabwe’s special economic zones and industrial parks, to enable them to play a leading role in the cooperation in infrastructure construction, mining industry, manufacturing and other fields, and will encourage more Chinese companies to invest in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe hopes to strengthen cooperation with China and constantly advance the bilateral relations in the new era. The Zimbabwean side welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in and more Chinese tourists to travel to Zimbabwe, and will provide convenience for such activities. According to the signed co-operation documents witnessed by the two presidents, China will provide 1.36 billion RMB (About $218 million) Concessional Loan to fund NetOne Network Expansion Phase II Project, and will provide Zimbabwe with non-reimbursable assistance including emergency food donation. The Exim Bank of China and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation also signed an MoU with the Zimbabwean Government respectively, through which the Chinese side expressed its willingness to fund viable projects in Zimbabwe. Before President Mugabe’s visit, the two sides held the Ninth Session of the Joint Commission on Economic, Technical and Trade Cooperation in Beijing, during which they reviewed the economic, technical, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, noted the common desire of both countries to further promote and expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and exchanged views on the priority projects for future cooperation. During the visit, some Chinese companies also signed tentative co-operation agreements with the relevant Zimbabwean institutions and companies. These agreements are an indispensable step of the cooperation and will lay a solid foundation for the concrete co-operation in the future. For example, Project Joint Development Concerning the Gwayi Coal-Power Integrated Project in Zimbabwe signed by four parties from China and Zimbabwe, provided a framework of co-operation for the two sides to advance the Gwayi Coal-Power Integrated Project. To facilitate people-to-people exchanges and human resources training, the two sides signed an MoU on Mutual Visa Exemption for Holders of Diplomatic and Service Passports, and an MoU on Co-operation in the Field of Tourism. The Chinese side also committed to fairly increase the number of Chinese government scholarships for Zimbabwean students. III. President Mugabe’s State Visit to China has great impact on the Sino-Zimbabwe relations. The two leaders have reached important consensus and pointed out the direction for the further development of the bilateral ties. Now, the two sides should join hands in successfully implementing the outcome of President Mugabe’s visit and lift the Sino-Zimbabwe friendship and all-round cooperation to a new height. Source: Chinese Embassy in Harare.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 22:21:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015