Somalia-China cooperation growing stronger: expert

Somalia has joined the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, aiming at boosting cooperation and communication with participating nations.

“In Somalia, some of the most memorable buildings were built by China in the late 1970s and 1980s. So the memory of China-Africa cooperation in Somalia is quite distinct,” Somali academic and senior adviser to the Somali president Hodan Osman Abdi told CGTN.

“A lot of people remember the cooperation went on between the Somali government and China in those years.”

Abdi said China was the entry point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road to the East African continent, adding that famous Chinese navigator Zheng He’s first contact with the East African continent was in Mogadishu.

“In recent years, even though with the collapse of then Somali government in 1991, the cooperation between China and Somalia went throughout. So a lot of agriculture cooperation, educational cooperation and training, and some infrastructure cooperation in some cities of Somalia have continued,” said Abdi.

Abdi gave the building of an airport in Somalia by a Chinese company as an example of infrastructure cooperation between the two countries. She expressed belief that despite some security concerns in Somalia, the cooperation with China has been going stronger.

Source: Ecns.cn