Guinea-Bissau presidential advisor Califa Soares Cassamá hailed China as an “important and strategic partner” in sectors from from infrastructure to food, after the Chinese government furthered its assistance to the African nation.
Cassamá represented the President of Guinea-Bissau at a ceremony monday in Bissau for the delivery of 1062 tons of Chinese rice to combat food insecurity in the African country.
“China is a very important and strategic partner of Guinea-Bissau. The results of cooperation speak for themselves in the infrastructure and health sector and now in food security”, he said.
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The 21,239 bags of rice will be distributed in all regions of Guinea-Bissau and the distribution operation will begin shortly, the presidential advisor said.
Cassamá added that the rice will reach the population and said that if any bag of rice donated by China is found to be sold in the market, the Guinean Presidency will forward any complaints to the competent authorities.
The head of Guinean diplomacy, Suzy Barbosa, said the “the brotherly people of China´s donation” arrives at a “critical” period, when the country faces a crisis due to covid-19 and the conflict in Ukraine, “which has made food products more expensive and means that the population is suffering the consequences”.
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Barbosa also recalled that the improvement of living conditions is a priority of the President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and that the support will be distributed to all regions of the country through the structures of the Presidency, so that “the food crisis in Guinea-Bissau and the rest of the world can be overcome”.
The Chinese ambassador to Guinea-Bissau, Guo Ce, said that the donation deepens cooperation between the two countries and is part of the “food assistance offered to African countries by the by the Chinese Government”, which is willing to “take practical measures to help developing countries overcome food security challenges”.
“This food aid is one of the results of the implementation of the Global Development Initiative proposed by the Chinese President, in 2021. It is also the implementation of the new programs announced at the eighth ministerial conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation”, said the ambassador.
