On March 28, 2013, President Xi Jinping met respectively with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Durban, South Africa.
President Xi Jinping meets with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Durban, South Africa
Calling Museveni a witness of China-Africa friendship and a trustworthy old friend of China, Xi said China attaches importance to the cooperation projects Uganda is interested in and stands ready to strengthen bilateral economic and trade cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit. Uganda now holds the rotating chairs of several African regional organizations such as East African Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). China, he said, is willing to work with Uganda and other African countries to bring to fruit the proposed partnership regarding cross-border and trans-regional infrastructure construction on the continent.
Museveni said Uganda cherishes the bilateral friendship fostered by the older generations of leaders of the two countries and hopes for more Chinese support and assistance for the development of both Uganda and Africa.
President Xi Jinping meets with Mozambican President Armando Guebuza in Durban, South Africa
During his meeting with Guebuza, Xi noted that China and Mozambique have helped each other in their struggles for independence, peace and development. China-Mozambique cooperation now enjoys a bright future, and China encourages its enterprises to invest in Mozambique's priority areas of development, Xi added. Noting that Southern Africa boasts great development potential, Xi said China is ready to work with the Southern African Development Community to promote the region's interconnectivity and socioeconomic development.
For his part, Guebuza said his country is ready to cooperate with China to deepen bilateral friendly cooperation and advance the integration process of Southern Africa. Noting that Chinese businesses have built a good reputation in Mozambique, Guebuza said Mozambique welcomes more Chinese involvement in the planning and implementation of his country's projects in agriculture, electricity, energy and infrastructure.
President Xi Jinping meets with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Durban, South Africa
When meeting with Hailemariam, Xi said China and Ethiopia follow similar development concepts and hold identical views on many major global and regional issues. China, he said, is ready to intensify bilateral exchanges on national governance and consolidate practical cooperation so as to bring tangible benefits to both peoples and safeguard the common interests of developing countries. Xi also congratulated Hailemariam on his being elected as the new rotating chairperson of the African Union (AU), saying that China values the role of the regional body and will make concerted efforts with Ethiopia to further enhance China-AU and China-Africa ties and make greater contributions to peace and development in Africa.
Ethiopia, said Hailemariam, treasures the traditional friendship with China, regards China as a partner of and role model for development, and stands ready to cooperate with China on international and African affairs. Ethiopia is ready to enhance party-to-party exchanges with China and learn from China's experience. The prime minister added that Ethiopia hopes to expand bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation so as to improve the country's infrastructure and promote its socioeconomic development.
Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu and Yang Jiechi attended the meetings.