Foreign minister urges mutually advantageous trade with China

Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin has said trade between Africa and China should be on an equal footing whereby both benefit. Addressing a meeting in Addis Ababa on trade between China and the African continent, he said that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) must play a key role in forging any trade relations between the two. Mesfin added that China could also play a vital role in supporting Ethiopia’s agriculture development-led industrialistion, a central plank of poverty reduction in the country. “We have no doubt that Africa can continue to count on the solidarity of China in its struggle against poverty, and against marginalisation in the globalising world,” he said. He added that cooperation between Africa and China was based on “trust, solidarity, mutual benefit, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs”. Some 20 senior officials from China are attending the two day meeting which aims to draw up an agenda for a ministerial conference in Ethiopia in November next year. The talks follow on from the Beijing 2000 summit between China and Africa and will address issues such as trade, debt reduction and control of arms movements.