Chinese VP arrives in Zambia for official visit

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao arrived in Lusaka on Wednesday to begin his four-day official visit to the southern African nation.

The Chinese vice-president was met at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, by his Zambian counterpart Guy Scott and Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Zhou Yuxiao.

Li, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, later inspected a guard of honor mounted by the seven battalion of the Zambian army while a 21--gun salute also spiced up his arrival.

Invited by Zambian Vice-President Guy Scott, Li and his 21- member team of officials from the government as well as the Chinese Communist Party, is in Zambia to, among other things, commemorate the golden jubilee of the Zambian independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Zambia and to further promote government-to-government and party-to-party relations between the two countries.

He is scheduled to meet Zambian President Michael Sata, hold bilateral talks with the Zambia vice-president, have a working meeting with Wynter Kabimba, secretary-general of Zambia's governing party the Patriotic Front as well as pay a courtesy call on Zambia's first President Kenneth Kaunda.

The two governments are expected to sign eight agreements on Chinese grants and loans to Zambia and bilateral cooperation projects.

China and Zambia have enjoyed cordial bilateral relations over the years, with bilateral trade totaling $3.8 billion last year and China's investment in the country standing at 2.6 billion dollars.

After Zambia, the Chinese vice president will head to Tanzania.