On June 23, 2019, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Foreign Minister Nabeela Tunis of Sierra Leone in Beijing.
Wang Yi welcomed Ms. Nabeela Tunis Foreign Minister and foreign ministers and friends of African countries to attend the Sherpa meeting on the implementation of the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The Chinese side is ready to work with African countries to build high-quality and sustainable China-Africa friendly relations.
China and Sierra Leone are good friends and good brothers who have always understood and supported each other. At the end of August last year, President Xi Jinping met with President Julius Maada Bio in Beijing, drawing up a blueprint for the development of China-Sierra Leone relations in the new era. The Chinese side appreciates the Sierra Leonean side’s firm friendship with China and is ready to work with the Sierra Leonean side to push for greater development of China-Sierra Leone relations in accordance with the consensus reached by the two heads of state.
Wang Yi pointed out that the two sides should continue to firmly support each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns. The Chinese side will firmly uphold the principle featuring sincerity, real results, friendship, and good faith and the values of friendship, justice and shared interests while carrying out cooperation with African countries including Sierra Leone.
The two sides should strengthen alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative and the eight major initiatives proposed at the FOCAC Beijing Summit with Sierra Leone’s medium-term national development plan, build a national cooperation plan in line with the actual situation of the Sierra Leonean side, and beef up cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture and fishery, health care, communication, and capacity building. We should firmly support each other in multilateral affairs, advocate mutual respect, promote win-win cooperation, and safeguard the common interests of our two countries and other developing countries.
Nabeela Tunis said that President Julius Maada Bio attaches great importance to relations with China. Sierra Leone is firmly committed to strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with China. China has always understood and supported Africa and always offered timely assistance to African countries in times of difficulty. China’s joint efforts with Sierra Leone to fight the Ebola epidemic are a classic example. African countries trust and thank China, regard China as a true good partner, and never believe the unfounded accusations on Africa-China relations. The Sierra Leonean side supports deepening Africa-China partnership and stands ready to maintain close communication and coordination on implementing the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and reform of the global governance system.
After the talks, the two sides witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation agreements together.
