China, Angola to deepen economic ties: minister

LUANDA - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Angola will further deepen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, said Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng on Thursday.

Li arrived in the Angolan capital earlier in the day, the third leg of his ongoing four-nation tour of Africa, which has taken him to Ethiopia and Nigeria.

The visit "is of great significance in comprehensively improving China-Africa strategic partnership and consolidating the solidarity and cooperation among developing countries," Gao said.

During the visit, the Chinese premier is expected to exchange views with Angolan President Dos Santos with an eye to deepening bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The two sides will also sign cooperation agreements regarding such areas as medicine, hydropower and agriculture.

Angola, the third largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, has become China's second largest trading partner and biggest crude oil supplier in Africa.

China-Angola trade cooperation, which mainly focuses on trade of electro-mechanical products, steel, energy and minerals, has been significantly expanded in recent years, the Chinese official said.

Bilateral trade volume in 2013 reached $36 billion, a nearly 50-fold increase compared with that at the beginning of this century, and accounted for 40 percent of Angola's total foreign trade volume last year.

"The two countries have also seen a remarkable surge in investment in recent years, as China had invested over?$8 billion in Angola by the end of 2013," said Gao.

He noted that over the years, China's investment and financial aid have helped Angola build over 130 infrastructure projects and have supported Angola's post-war reconstruction and economic development.

"Chinese and Angolan economies are highly complementary. Both countries face the major task of economic restructuring and have huge cooperation potential and many opportunities in such fields as electricity, railways, agriculture, energy and mineral resources, manufacturing and infrastructure," Gao said.

In the future, China and Angola will deepen their cooperation on infrastructure construction, promote agricultural exchanges, actively conduct cooperation in the manufacturing industry and expand financing cooperation, he added.

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