Huge Windfalls Crown State House TalksTalks

A CFA 3,200 million gift, an interest-free loan of the same amount and several agreements were signed after Mr Jia met President Biya at State House yesterday. The highpoint of the visit of Mr Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People??s Political Consultative Conference came yesterday when he met President Paul Biya at State House. The décor at State House had all the settings of a Head of State-level reception. The red carpet was rolled out far off the main entrance with the guard of honour

dutifully posted to give the reception ceremony all its solemnity. The ranking Chinese official was greeted as he stepped out of his limousine by a smiling President Biya. The two men briefly exchanged civilities before heading for the third-floor offices of the President of the Republic where they remained in sedusci for about one-hour. Although nothing filtered from their discussion, there was little doubt that the sustenance of the already very high level of cooperation between Yaounde and Beijing was the main issue. About one hour gone into the talks, photographers were invited into the presidential office to immortalise in photographs, the decoration of Mr Jia. President Biya affixed the medal of Grand Officer of the National Order of Valour on the left lapels of Mr Jia??s jacket. Then followed an exchange of gifts. The President of the Republic offered a bronze sculpture of a rider. He was heard explaining the significance of the gift to his guest, insisting that it was chosen to symbolize the vitality of Sino-Cameroon relations. Mr Jia, in return, offered President Biya a pictoral presentation of the Shanghai Universal exposition due to open in the near future and the first of its kind to be organized by a so-called developing country as China generally refers to itself. Agreements After the exchange of gifts, the two men crossed from the President??s office to the cabinet meeting room where top Chinese and Cameroonian officials were already seated. Several Cameroonian and Chinese officials were then called up to sign a number of agreements, conventions or protocol agreements. The ceremony began with a gift of 50 million Yuan Renminbi (about CFA 3,200 millions) offered to Cameroon and an interest-free loan of the same amount. Fu Ziying, Chinese Vice Minister of Trade and Louis Paul Motaze, Cameroon??s Economy Minister signed for their two governments. A convention by which MATGENIE, the road construction equipment pool, will be equipped with a loan with preferential rates was also signed as well as Memorandum of Understanding and global cooperation on the financing of projects. Louis Paul Motaze signed for Cameroon while Li Ruogu, president of the Import-Export Bank of China signed for his government. Investments will also be carried out in an unspecified area in the agricultural sectors. A framework convention to back up this initiative was signed on the Cameroonian side by Jean Nkuete, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and on the Chinese side by Li Jipin, Executive Vice President of the China Development Bank and Yang Haomin, CEO of Integrate-Industry-Commerce Corporation of Shaanxi. By a draft agreement China has also taken the commitment to offer training in the area of new technologies in the running of the Cameroon postal network. The draft agreement was signed by Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and Mrs Meng Wanzhou, Financial President of HUAWEI SARL. All these documents were signed under the watchful eyes of President Biya and his Chinese guest. Shortly after the signing ceremony, the two men and accompanying delegations went down to the Ambassador??s hall located at the first floor where the President of the Republic offered an official lunch for the visiting Chinese official. The President of the Republic proposed a toast in which he acknowledged the admiration of the entire people of Cameroon for China??s extraordinary progress in various areas. The President expressed the wish to see China get actively involved in Cameroon??s desire to become a middle-income country or an emerging economy in the next 25 years by accompanying it in some of the gigantic projects it has ushered in (see speech). Mr Jia Qinglin was very appreciative of the warm welcome extended to him and his entire delegation by the people of Cameroon. For China??s fourth ranking official, Cameroon remains an important partner of China in Africa and cooperation between the two countries exemplifies what South-South cooperation should be.

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