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Senegal has announced it had reached a rewarding deal that would boost existing technical and economic cooperation between it and China. According to an official statement released by the Senegalese Ministry of International Cooperation,
Tuesday, January 5th 2010, the agreement entails Beijing providing Dakar with an interest-free loan of 4.4 million U.S. dollars.
The fund is earmarked for an ambitious cooperation program conceived by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao. This program which is valued at over 200 million dollars covers key development sectors of culture (construction of grand national theatre and a museum for the black civilization), sports (rehabilitation of 11 regional stadia), agriculture (renewal of technical agricultural support) and health (construction of a hospital with a bed capacity of over 130 beds).
Signed by Senegalese Minister for International Cooperation, Karim Wade, and Chinese Ambassador to Senegal, Gong Yanxing, the agreement makes available a loan which is payable within a time limit of 10 years – between Dec. 1, 2024 and Nov. 30, 2034.
