By CHUSA SICHONE –
CHINESE Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming has pledged to maintain and strengthen the cooperation between his country and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Mr Yang presented his credentials as China’s special representative to COMESA in Lusaka yesterday and said China and COMESA were longstanding partners, whose cooperation he would work hard to extend.
Mr Yang said he wanted to promote the COMESA-China cooperation in the infrastructural, industrial, energy and financial sectors as well as in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
COMESA secretary general SindisoNgwenya said the regional body would work with China to further advance the already existing link between China and COMESA member States at bilateral and regional levels.
“We have learnt something from your great country that without infrastructure and energy, development is really impossible,” he said.
Mr Ngwenya said being the second largest economy in the world, the regional body had a lot to learn from China and was eager to cooperate, especially that China was a member of the COMESA PTA Bank.
Mr Ngwenya applauded the Development Bank of China for availing the COMESA PTA Bank with US $80 million for small and medium enterprises, while the China-Africa Fund had increased from US $2 billion to US $5 billion.
