By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province in China, Fang Wei has vowed to encourage enterprises to increase investment in Sierra Leone’s industries to help accelerate its industrialization.
During the Sierra Leone-Jiangsu Cooperation conference held at the Bintumani Hall on the 28th February, 2024, the Vice Governor noted that they will tap into the potential of cooperation in economic development and trade. He stated that China will support and promote the active participation of their institutions and enterprises in mineral resource development, infrastructure construction, agriculture, and other fields in Sierra Leone.
He added that based on various channels such as exhibitions and cross-border e-commerce platforms, they will expand the import of high-quality specialty products from Sierra Leone to upgrade bilateral trade. He said they will strengthen exchanges of visits and interactions between governments and local authorities, hold economic and trade activities to enhance mutual understanding, seek business opportunities for cooperation and promote common development.
Vice Governor Fang went on to state that they will enhance cooperation in talent cultivation and establish cooperation in skills assistance, promote expertise exchange and cooperation, organize vocational schools to provide remote vocational skills training and expert consultation, so as to improve the quality of skilled talent training in Sierra Leone.
“Based on the Freshwater Fisheries Research Center (FFRC) of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS) in Wuxi, we will continue to train high-caliber technical talents in fishery for Sierra Leone and share our expertise in fishery and aquaculture development,” he said.
He reiterated that they plan to extend cultural exchanges and expand cooperation with Sierra Leone in basic education, higher education, and other fields, support universities in Jiangsu Province such as Jiangsu University, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China Pharmaceutical University, etc., in carrying out cooperation with universities in Sierra Leone such as the University of Sierra Leone, Njala University, and University of Makeni.
He promised to deepen their communication and connection, draw distances closer, build bridges of friendship, and collectively create a win-win situation and brighter future.
In his statement, Minister of Local Govt and Community Affairs, Tamba Lamina noted that for too long Sierra Leone has been one of Africa’s best kept secrets with only mineral assets such as iron ore, rutile, gold and now rare earth metals capturing international attention while in truth the country has so much more to offer the world.
He described Sierra Leone from being home to the largest deep-sea port in Sub Saharan African and sitting at the heart of the 400 million strong ECOWAS consumer market to having a young and fast-growing population of 8 million with over 5 million hectares of arable land, some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, extensive forests and mangroves that provide huge natural carbon sinks.
Minister Lamina stated that the country is now looking to use these rich natural resources to transform the economy – leveraging investment in the mining sector to develop a new national infrastructure network based on a cross-country railway, major new ports, smart city and series of regional SEZs that will also open up most productive agricultural regions to international investment and new global markets.
The Local Government Minister affirmed that China has been a steadfast champion of South-South Cooperation and a constant friend of Sierra Leone over many years and was proud for Sierra Leone to have been among the group of African countries that fought to have the People's Republic recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Chinese people at the United Nations, maintaining bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries for over five decades.
“The Chinese people have provided much more than just diplomatic cooperation and moral support – not only has Sierra Leone been the recipient of generous bilateral aid but China is today by far and away the country’s largest trade & investment partner,” he said.
He said the visit of the Vice Governor and his colleagues provides an opportunity to further strengthen the bonds of friendship between the people of Sierra Leone and those of China – and to create a new strategic partnership with the Province of Jiangsu.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (04/03/24)
