China has cancelled 150 mature debts of 32 African countries

China News Service, the United Nations, Oct. 20th (Reporter Sun Yuting) Liu Zhenmin, the deputy permanent representative of China to the United Nations said that by the end of the 1st quarter of 2009, China had smoothly cancelled 150 mature debts of 32 African countries.

Ambassador Liu Zhenmin made such an announcement when he was giving a talk on African issues at the 64th Session of the U. N. Conference. He said that since the outbreak of the financial crisis, China has continued to provide African countries with various aid such as free aid, interest-free loans, and preferential loans by overcoming lots of its own difficulties. The Chinese aid is aimed to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in the fields of agricultural development, infrastructure construction, human resources training and health care etc, which are on top priority of “the New Partnership for Africa's Development -- NEPAD”.

Liu Zhenmin said at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation 2006, the Chinese government announced that it would cancel debt in the form of all the interest-free government loans that matured at the end of 2005 owed by 33 heavily indebted poor countries and the least developed countries in Africa that have diplomatic relations with China. By the 1st quarter of 2009, China had waived 150 debts that matured in 32 of the afore-said African countries.

Liu Zhenmin said that the Chinese government has also attached great importance to the issues on market access and trade imbalance of African countries and taken plenty of measures to strengthen the trade with African countries. In 2008, the total volume of trade between China and Africa was $160.04 billion, a year-on-year increase of 45.1%. Of this total, the import from Africa amounted to $56 billion, up by 54% over the previous year.

He indicated that in the future China would provide African countries with further aid and support in the aspects of agriculture, education, health care, medicine, clean energies etc. We will continue to support African countries to make efforts in the respect of preventing conflicts, solving conflicts and building peace.

Liu Zhenmin also pointed out that in order to achieve the goal of “the New Partnership for Africa's Development -- NEPAD”, the international society should pay close attention to the following points: implement the promised aid promptly; offer more extra funding; respect the sovereignty of African countries; expand South-South Cooperation; help African countries carry out capability constructions; strengthen the role of international organizations.