Liberia to ask for debt mercy
2007-02-02 07:29
Monrovia - Liberians lined the potholed streets leading to the airport to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao, as their leaders prepared to ask him for help in rebuilding this war-ravaged West African nation.
Liberia was the second stop on Hu's eight-country African tour. He was expected to sign key infrastructure contracts with the government in return for access to its mineral wealth.
China was also expected to forgive $15m of Liberia's $3.7bn Chinese debt.
Liberia's foreign minister George Wallace said: "We have the natural resources and they have the know-how. Now we must move toward developing the infrastructure of this land. We have destroyed it and we welcome our friends who have come to help us rebuild it."
Hundreds waited on Thursday for Hu's Air China Boeing jet to arrive, holding up pictures of the Chinese leader, as well as the flags of the two countries.
Liberia 'welcomes Chinese investors'
He was greeted by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state, whose election last year heralded what many here hoped would be a new era of peace after a quarter century of bloody coups and war.
The two left together via a pockmarked road lined with students. Wallace, the foreign minister, said Liberia welcomed Chinese investors.
He said he expected Sirleaf to sign agreements in infrastructure, education, health and agriculture. "We expect some benefits from this visit."
Trade between China and Africa had quadrupled in the last decade, generating $40bn in 2005. Hu's 12-day journey to Africa underscored the importance of the continent in the Asian superpower's foreign policy.
Hu began his tour in Cameroon and would next visit Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Seychelles. In Sudan, he was facing increasing pressure to address the conflict in Darfur.
Africa's first republic, Liberia, was founded in 1847 by liberated American slaves. Although it was rich in rubber, oil, timber and other natural resources, its people were desperately poor.
- AP