The Prime Minister’s Office recalled that Ahmed arrived in Beijing on Monday to attend the third forum of the Belt and Road Initiative for International Cooperation, which ended the day before.
In his speech at the opening session, he explained the emergence of China-Africa relations and the solid foundation of cooperation that this initiative of the Asian giant has laid in the development of infrastructure on the African continent.
He held official talks with Prime Minister Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping, and together with him, last Tuesday, they announced the elevation of their bilateral relations to the level of a strategic partnership between Ethiopia and China.
The statement was made after the bilateral talks between Ahmed and Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing along with their respective delegations.
During the meeting, the African Prime Minister noted the importance of Chinese investments in Addis Ababa’s economy and encouraged more investments in the five key pillars: agriculture, manufacturing, information and communications technologies, mining and tourism.
For his part, the Chinese President congratulated Ahmed on joining the Brics Group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and announced the elevation of the association between the two countries from the level of a comprehensive and permanent strategic cooperative association to all-weather strategic cooperation partnership level .
He praised the African country’s achievements through the Green Legacy Initiative to mitigate the effects of climate change, noting its alignment with China’s green development policy and saying it will be an integral part of a green belt and roads program.
kmg/NMR