What's news

China helps set up Sierra Leone Ebola lab

The Chinese government will help Sierra Leone set up an Ebola laboratory and an Ebola holding center, said Wang Yu, director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The lab and holding center will be based at the Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital on the outskirts of Freetown, the nation's capital, said Wang, who was leading a nine-member team of experts visiting Sierra Leone.

The team of experts, who arrived in Freetown on Sept 2, called on Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma and newly appointed Health Minster Abu Bakarr Fofanah over the following weekend.

Wang said that China will soon airlift a mobile lab to Sierra Leone and that China will also work with the West African country to select a site for a level-three bio-safety laboratory.

Malta hosts promotion for Canton Fair

A promotional conference for the 116th China Import and Export Fair, known as the China Canton Fair, was held on Sept 5 in Valletta, the capital of Malta, an island country in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily and Tunisia.

Addressing the event, Director-General of the China Foreign Trade Center Wang Zhiping said buyers attending the fair rose from 1,223 from 19 countries and regions in the first session to 188,119 from 214 countries and regions in the 115th session.

"Since the 62nd session, altogether 1,131 Maltese buyers have been to the fair, and mainly procured household electrical appliances, home decorations and building materials," Wang said.

Chief Operations Officer of Malta Enterprise Marika Tonna said Malta today is a quality manufacturing center and perfect location for Chinese companies wishing to increase their business not only in the European Union, but also in North African countries.

She said the Canton Fair could be an occasion for Maltese companies to forge new businesses and strengthen business relationships, urging Maltese exporters to talk with the visiting delegation about the opportunity to sell their products at the Canton Fair.

The China Import and Export Fair is held biannually in China's southern city of Guangzhou every spring and autumn.

China ties boost Ugandan economy

Ugandan Vice-President Edward Ssekandi on Sept 5 said deeper relations with China are helping unlock Uganda's economic potential.

Ssekandi told Xinhua News Agency that the relationship has produced growing bilateral efforts and increased trade between the two countries and also more people-to-people contacts.

China has been a friend of Uganda and supported a lot of Uganda's international efforts and interests at different forums, he said.

"The intention is to push our relations further to see Ugandans also exporting to China local products including our agricultural products, where Ugandans will get resources to improve production at home," he added.

China has pumped huge sums of money in Uganda's infrastructure development. Using a $350 million loan from China's Export and Import Bank, Uganda is building a four-lane expressway linking the capital, Kampala, to Entebbe International Airport, the country's main gateway to the rest of the world.

China also is slated to reconstruct Uganda's dilapidated railway network linking Uganda to South Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya. Kenya, also with funding from China, is upgrading its railway network, which will link Uganda to Kenya's Mombasa seaport. It is anticipated that the opening up of the railway network will boost regional trade.

China thanks S. Africa for barring Dalai Lama

China's Foreign Ministry on Sept 5 expressed appreciation to South Africa after the country refused the Dalai Lama entry into the country.

"Dalai is a political exile who has been engaged, under the cloak of religion, in impairing China's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the unity of the Chinese nation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news briefing.

China firmly opposes the Dalai Lama's secessionist activities in any name, Qin said, adding China "highly appreciates" South Africa for its respect and support for China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"(We) believe that South Africa will continue to support China on sovereignty and territorial integrity," Qin added.

Media reports said that South Africa denied the Dalai Lama a visa to the country to attend a meeting.

Chinese power project starts in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Sept 4 officiated at the launch of the expansion of the country's second-largest power station, a massive hydro-power plan partially funded by China and undertaken by a leading Chinese construction company.

The expansion of Kariba South Power Station will raise Zimbabwe's power generating capacity by a quarter in more than three years, officials said, moving a step closer to end the country's chronic power shortages.

The Chinese contractor, Sino-Hydro Corporation Ltd, will add two power generating units, each providing 150 megawatts of electricity a year, to the hydro-station, which runs six 125- megawatt generating units.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/12/2014 page2)