The cooperation between China and Chad has constantly developed since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations in August last year, Chad's Communication Minister and government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor has said.

 

He said the cooperation is dynamic and is playing a great role in boosting Chad's economic development.

 

Doumgor expressed appreciation for China's fulfillment of the promises made at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November last year.

 

"Chad is one of the 48 African countries present at the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently. "China has honored what it pledged at the summit. In addition, China has offered Chad assistance more than it has promised, for example, donating equipment to the Ministry of Communication."

 

To forge a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership and strengthen cooperation in more areas and at a higher level, the Chinese government announced at the summit that it will take eight measures including doubling its 2006 assistance to Africa by 2009. Doumgor said that the cooperation between the two countries has expanded from the traditional health and agriculture sectors to oil and infrastructure sectors.

 

The two countries have agreed to develop several cooperation projects after the resumption of diplomatic relations. The projects include building an oil refinery in Chad, which would be the first oil refinery in this country, and building a cement factory.

 

"It is Africa's opportunity to cooperate with China," said the minister, "Chad wishes to learn from China's experience, fulfill the cooperation projects and promote the bilateral relationship."

 

He extended welcome to Chinese companies which have come to invest in Chad, saying that this is a result of bilateral cooperation, expressing the wish that more Chinese will come to invest in Chad to promote Chad's economic development.

 

The minister highlighted the high-level exchange of visit since the resumption of the diplomatic relations, saying that the two countries should develop communication in various levels for the benefit of long-term development of bilateral relations.

 

He suggested that the two countries develop activities such as exchange of visits between youth, cultural promotion and sports.

 

Chadian President Idriss Deby visited China in September when he met Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

 

China and Chad first established formal diplomatic links in 1972 but China severed diplomatic relations with Chad in 1997 when the country resumed the so-called "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)