APS :Wednesday, 19 June 2019
ALGIERS-“Algeria and China have been bound by fruitful cooperation under the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Moreover, Algeria has become China’s 5th major African trading partner,”
Ambassador of China to Algiers, Li Lianhe affirmed Wednesday.
In an interview with Le Jeune Indépendant daily, published on Wednesday, Li Lianhe said that “in the recent years, China and Algeria have been bound by fruitful cooperation in the areas of politics, economics, trade and culture under the BRI initiative.”
Recalling that bilateral trade exchanges hit US$9.1 billion in 2018, the Chinese diplomat said that “Algeria, whose exports to China are continuously increasing, has become the country’s 5th major African trading partner.”
“Both countries have engaged in significant exchanges that have further enhanced friendship ties,” he continued.
In this context, Li Lianhe highlighted “the excellence” of bilateral ties over the past 60 years, based on the principles of “mutual respect, non-interference in international affairs, equality, shared prosperity and win-win.”
Referring to health cooperation, the Chinese diplomat recalled that “since 1956, China has provided Algeria with 26 medical staffs, including nearly 3400 doctors, who treated Algerian patients for free countrywide.”
“Chinese medical staffs treated 23.7 million patients and helped to bring some 1.6 million newborns into the world,” he continued.
“In 2014, China and Algeria established a comprehensive strategic partnership, thus bringing bilateral ties into a new stage of development,” recalled Lianhe.
“At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September 2018, both countries sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the joint implementation of the BRI,” he concluded.
