On June 17th, 2009, H.E. Ambassador Gu Xiaojie had a joint-interview by Mr. William Wallis, Africa Editor of Financial Times and Mr. Koert Linder, Africa Correspondent of NRC Handlesblad, on China-Ethiopia and China-Africa relationship, as well as the situation of China-Africa cooperation in the wake of world financial and economic crisis.

Mr. Gu said, since the establishment of China’s diplomatic relationship with Ethiopia, the bilateral relations had achieved great development with strengthening mutual political trust, deepening economic cooperation and widening cooperation fields, and abundant fruits achieved in infrastructure field such as telecommunication, energy, roads and so on. Mr. Gu said, China’s cooperation with Ethiopia as well as Africa was on the principle of equality and mutual benefit. China would like to share development experience with African countries so as to establish a complementary, transparent and open cooperative relationship.

Mr. Gu emphasized that, in the wake of the world financial crisis, China would honor its commitment to African countries, to continue to provide assistance to and relieve debts for, to enhance trade with and invest to, and to further promote the pragmatic cooperation with African countries. Mr. Gu hoped that the international communities could pay more attention to Africa’s development efforts, and that China would like to strengthen cooperation with other international partners, so as to make more contribution to the development of Africa.