President visits to strengthen bonds

Healthcare cooperation forms backbone of friendship

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba said ahead of his visit to China that his country welcomes more Chinese companies to invest in its processing and manufacturing industries, in a bid to boost economic development and create more jobs.

The Gabonese president kicked off a four-day state visit to China on Tuesday at the invitation of his Chinese peer Xi Jinping. The trip, his first visit to a country outside the African continent since winning reelection in August, is his 11th to China.

In an earlier interview with Xinhua News Agency, he described the visit as "an opportunity" to speed up the development of the Gabon-China relationship.

"China is the partner of Gabon, and the two countries share a close relationship. Gabon hopes to continue strengthening trade and economic exchanges with China," he said.

Despite the difficulties facing his country due to a drop in oil prices, the Gabonese president said his country is still attractive to investors and hopes to see more Chinese enterprises investing in Gabon, especially in the fields of processing and manufacturing, which are crucial to the economy of his country.

He added that he hopes the local manufacturing industry can continue to develop to increase the value and competitiveness of its products while creating more employment opportunities.

In late November, a 26-member Chinese medical team arrived in Gabon to provide two years of medical assistance to the African country, marking a renewing of the two countries' nearly 40 years of cooperation in healthcare.

Medical staff from different departments, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, stomatology and ophthalmology, belong to the 19th medical team sent by China to work in hospitals in the Gabonese cities of Libreville and Franceville.

As representatives of the Chinese and Gabonese governments, Chinese Ambassador to Gabon Hu Changchun and Gabonese Minister of Health Leon Nzouba signed an agreement on Nov 22 to dispatch Chinese medical teams to Gabon.

The two countries share a profound friendship and have achieved fruitful results in their healthcare cooperation, Hu said in a speech after the signing ceremony.

China has sent 19 medical teams to Gabon and provided medical services to a total of 290,000 local patients since the two countries signed their first agreement for the dispatch of Chinese medical teams to Gabon in 1975.

The Chinese teams are widely praised for their medical services as well as training local medical staff.

"China will continue to uphold the principles of 'sincerity, real results, amity and good faith', making more contributions to benefit the people of both countries and deepen China-Gabon friendship," he said.

Nzouba expressed thanks for the long-term support of the Chinese government and people for his country's medical and health development.

He noted that the arrival of the 19th medical team could signify a new starting point for health cooperation between the two countries, and that Gabon expects to continue working with China to improve people's health.

mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/08/2016 page7)