China to cancel US $750 million African debt

To ease the burden of external debt on African development, China has decided to cancel a total debt of US $750 million owed to it by African countries, a senior Chinese official said in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday. Visiting Chinese junior Foreign Minister Qiao Zonghuai, at a meeting with his Nigeria counterpart Saidu Samaila, said his country was also seeking to deepen its development cooperation with Africa. For this purpose, Zonghuai said China was seeking Nigeria’s support for the special China-Africa Forum scheduled to hold on 15-16 December at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Zonghuai said his country was also seeking Africa’s support for reforms in international multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He said while the UN Security Council needed to accommodate more permanent members, there was urgent need to democratise decision-making in the Bank and Fund. China and Nigeria also held bilateral talks covering cooperation in agriculture and the development of rural telephony. Both countries also signed an agreement under which China will provide Nigeria US$2.5 million in development grants.