Ｍｉｎｉｓｔｅｒ ｏｆ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔｉａｌ Ａｆｆａｉｒｓ ｏｆ Ｓｉｅｒｒａ Ｌｅｏｎ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

Shekou Sesay， minister of presidential and public affairs of Sierra Leon， and his party visited Beijing and Shanghai from April 4 to 9 at the invitation of the CPAFFC.

State Councillor Hua Jianmin met with the minister and his party. CPAFFC president Chen Haosu and Vice president Wang Yunze hosted a banquet in their honour. Sesay and his party called on Li Jiange， deputy director of the Development Research Centre of the State Council， Chen Jian， assistant minister of commerce， and Wu Jie， executive vice president of the Beijing Municipal Chamber of Commerce， and had talks with the China National Electric Equipment Corp. on the construction of the Benkongor Hydropower Station. Huang Guancong， vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference， met and entertained Sesay and his party.

At meetings with Hua Jianmin and other leaders of the departments and ministries， Sesay said several times， since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sierra Leon and China in 1971， the two countries have enjoyed very friendly and close bilateral relations. China is an old friend of Sierra Leon for more than 30 years. Over the years， China has provided assistance for Sierra Leon in the areas of agriculture， construction of roads and bridges， small-scale industries， hydropower generation， energy， etc. During Sierra Leon’s civil war， the Chinese government gave firm support to the country to seek peace， for which the people of Sierra Leon are very grateful. He emphasized， China is not only Sierra Leon’s friend， but also sincere friend of all African countries. Premier Zhou Enlai’s visit to Africa in 1963 laid a solid foundation for Africa-China friendship. Though he only visited 10 countries， the impact had reached the whole of Africa.

The minister said， since Sierra Leon supported the restoration of China’s legitimate seat in the United Nations together with other African countries more than 30 years ago， the country has always supported China’s position on major international issues. He specially conveyed the important commitment given by the president of Sierra Leon to the Chinese friends: Sierra Leon will as always support the one-China policy. This position has not changed and will never change. The people and government of Sierra Leon give their congratulations and support to China for the Anti-Secession Law recently passed and held that no foreign forces should interfere in China’s internal affairs.

Sesay had visited China in the mid 1980s. During this visit made after 20 years， he found tremendous changes in China’s cities and marked improvement of people’s lives. He spoke highly of the achievements China has made in reform and opening in the past 20 years and expressed his admiration.

He said at meetings several times， China has scored great progress in the economic， social and other fields through reform and opening up and become an example for the developing countries. China shared similar experiences with the broad African countries in the past. Therefore， compared with the developed countries， China’s experience in development tallies more closely with the actual conditions of the African countries and is good for the African countries including Sierra Leon to learn. China’s technology is more suited to the present productive forces in Africa. He expressed the hope that China would strengthen its cooperation with Africa， especially with Sierra Leon， exchange development experience and seek common development with Africa within the framework of South-South cooperation. “Teach your friends fishing better than give them fish.” The people of Sierra Leon are grateful for China’s economic assistance， but they are more willing to learn China’s experience in development and technology， and build their country through self-reliance.

Sierra Leon’s civil war ended in 2000 and the general election was carried out smoothly in 2002. Now a thousand things remain to be done. Sierra Leon is rich in resources and has great potential for development in the areas of mining， ocean exploitation， agriculture and forestry. Due to the war， shortage of electricity supply is acute. Infrastructure facilities have suffered grave damages and need to be rebuilt.

During his meetings with the Ministry of Commerce and other departments， Sesay expressed his desire to have cooperation with China. At present， Sierra Leon has made the exploration and exploitation of mineral and ocean resources， the construction of hydropower stations， roads and other infrastructure facilities and the development of agriculture the priorities of its economic development， and hopes that Chinese companies will actively cooperate with Sierra Leon in these areas. He hoped that the Chinese government would encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Sierra Leon and cooperate with private enterprises in Sierra Leon. Chinese enterprises have rich experience and mature technology. Sierra Leon will develop faster with the participation of Chinese enterprises.