Eritrea Wants Stronger Economic Ties With China

Eritrea wants stronger economic ties with China

by ASMARA (Reuters)

11th March 2006

Eritrea wants strengthened economic ties with China, said an official Eritrean Web site, fitting an African pattern of closer links to the Asian economic giant.Based on a long history of outside interference, Eritrea is wary of the international community but appears to retain a certain warmth for China.

"President Isaias Afwerki said that Eritrea wishes to further strengthen bilateral cooperation with the People's Republic of China in the domains of infrastructure, trade and investment," said an article on an official Eritrean Web site.

Posted late on Friday, the article on shabait.com said the president made his comments while receiving the credentials of the new Chinese ambassador to Eritrea, Shou Chan.

"In the meeting, President Isaias underlined the need to push forward the existing bilateral cooperation in infrastructure, telecommunication, agriculture, mining and other sectors," the article said.

China has increased its presence in Africa as its own economic strength has grown. The continent is seen as not only a huge market for Chinese good but a rich source of raw materials -- from minerals to oil -- needed to power China's economy.

Despite rapid economic growth after official independence in 1993, Eritrea's economy has been stagnating since a 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia that killed 70,000 people.

In February last year, the International Monetary Fund listed border tensions with neighbouring Ethiopia, drought, high defence spending, government debt, and administrative controls as constraints to economic growth.

In the same month, President Isaias made a rare foreign visit to Pakistan and China, where he reportedly returned to a military college where he once studied.

In August, Eritrea then received a senior military delegation from China.

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