Africa-China Bank to be Established

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 08 November 2006 @ 11:04 am EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Lagos (IBTimes.com) - President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the establishment of an 'Africa-China Bank', a new regional institution, to promote investments between China and African countries.

Addressing the recently concluded China-African Cooperation Summit on November 4, in Beijing, President Obasanjo said, "Nigeria is willing to host a meeting on this institution with relevant Chinese counterparts to draw the technical road map in the first quarter of 2007. The proposed meeting would seek to focus on how best to utilize the opportunities offered by the Beijing Plan of Action 2007-2009.

"Africa's priorities would be realized when they were fast-tracked through a strategic partnership with China.

"Africa would welcome the strategic partnership with China whole-heartedly believing that it would lead to concrete achievements that would improve the lots of Africa."

President Obasanjo highlighted the challenge to the partnership between African countries and China as being 'how the continent could be assisted to harness her huge resources to compete meaningfully with other nations in a globalised world'.

In his comments on the African Union (AU) position, President Obasanjo said, "The AU would continue to support engagements that would bring meaningful development to the continent."

On Nigeria-China relationship, the President expressed his appreciation at the progress Nigeria was making in its collaboration with China, "but we will continue to ask China to teach us how to catch fish while in the meantime, we are being given some fish."