China to aid Senegal to become emerging economy

The Chinese ambassador to Senegal, Xia Huang, has said that China will seek ways to share its development experience with Senegal, to help the latter become an emerging economy.

The ambassador was speaking on Wednesday in Dakar, in the run- up to the Oct. 1 celebrations of China's National Day. "If China and other Asian countries which were in the same situation as Africa in the past have become emerging economies, why shouldn't our African friends also achieve the same status," the ambassador posed.

"If we have achieved such status, we must also share our experience so that we can make Senegal an emerging economy," he said.

He said the Sino-Senegal relations are still growing strong and noted that the cooperation had "remained fruitful, tangible and has continued to give concrete results to the Chinese and Senegalese people."

He recalled that China had contributed to the completion of a number of sporting, cultural and health infrastructure in Senegal and had continued to send medical teams and anti-malaria drugs to the country.

China, the ambassador said, has continued to not only offer regular scholarships to Senegalese students, but has also facilitated visits by several Senegalese officials to China.

Xia noted that despite the fact China is the second largest economy in the world, it is still faced with a great imbalance, as over 100 million of its population still live below the poverty line.

He however said the Chinese authorities had decided that by the year 2021, they will not only double the country's GDP, but also make China a prosperous, powerful, highly democratic and a modern state.

"We are certain that we shall achieve this objective using socialism that responds to the Chinese reality," Xia Huang concluded.