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Burundian president concludes south China tour, heads for Beijing summit
3/11/2006 16:11

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza concluded his south China tour today and headed for Beijing to attend a two-day summit of the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation slated for Nov. 4-5.

Nkurunziza's 19-member delegation arrived in Guangzhou on Monday, starting a 10-day visit to China.

The group also visited Shenzhen, a boom city in the southern Guangdong Province, and arrived in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Wednesday.

During a meeting with Guizhou's Deputy Governor Lin Shusen on Thursday, Nkurunziza said he appreciated China's long-term assistance to Burundi and cherished the fraternity between his country and China.

He told Lin that Burundi has just got its independence and is undergoing reconstruction, so the country is eager to learn from China in many aspects.

Lin said Guizhou, like Burundi, was a largely agricultural province in the past decades and has become prosperous only in the recent five years thanks to the central government's preferential policies and local residents' hard work.

In a visit to Lucheba, a village about 50 kilometers west of Guiyang, the president marveled at the use of methane in generating electricity and hoped Burundian students in China would bring the eco-friendly technology back to their homeland.

During his stay in Guizhou, Nkurunziza also visited a local beef processing company and the famous tourist destination Huangguoshu Waterfall.

The forthcoming summit in Beijing will be attended by 48 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China.



Xinhua News