Guinea-Bissau: China funds conference centre, upgrades 300km of roads

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Guinea-Bissau: China funds conference centre, upgrades 300km of roads

11:53 CAT | 10 Jul 2024

File photo: Lusa

China will finance a “major conference centre” for Guinea-Bissau’s presidency of the CPLP and rehabilitate 300 kilometres of roads, among other investments in the African country, Guinean President Umaro Sissoco Embaló announced on Monday.

The head of state made the announcement at Bissau airport, in a statement to journalists, before boarding his flight to Beijing, where he will make a three-day state visit, starting on Wednesday.

“Next year Guinea-Bissau will assume the rotating presidency of the CPLP [Community of Portuguese Language Countries]. This means that even if Umaro Sissoco Embaló goes to the elections and is defeated, the incoming president will continue to hold the presidency of the CPLP,” he said.

The Guinean President noted that this “should make all the country’s citizens proud”.

Sissoco Embaló said that China, which he considers to be Guinea-Bissau’s traditional partner, had agreed to build “a large conference centre” in Bissau and to tar at least 300 kilometres of roads.

China is currently building the only road in Guinea-Bissau linking Osvaldo Vieira International Airport to the town of Safim, a stretch of 8.2 kilometres, costing €13.6 million.

The Guinean President didn’t want to “say much” about the projects in the pipeline with China, but he did say that China has agreed to build a university campus in Guinea-Bissau for 12,000 students.

“Before we get there, China has already announced a donation of $27.5 million to Guinea-Bissau, which will be earmarked for projects, independently of other projects we already have in the pipeline,” he said.

The president praised China’s stance, which, he said, “never meddles in the internal politics of an African country” and also the fact that it has helped train Guinea-Bissau’s military cadres.

Embaló also considered China to be an “unavoidable and indisputable partner in world geopolitics”.

Source: Lusa