Sierra Leone

Note: This column mainly includes countries along the Belt and Road and countries that have signed cooperation agreements with China on Belt and Road Initiative.

The friendly and cooperative relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Sierra Leone continued to deepen in 2013.

The two countries had frequent political exchanges and enhanced mutual trust. In March, Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma sent a letter of congratulations to Chinese President Xi Jinping on his election. In April, President Koroma wrote to President Xi to express sympathy over the earthquake in Lushan, Sichuan Province. In June, President Koroma attended the Second World Peace Forum in China and met with President Xi Jinping and Vice President Li Yuanchao on separate occasions. President Xi said that the two countries had always maintained sincerity, friendship, solidarity and mutual assistance since the establishment of diplomatic ties, and that China was ready to enhance practical cooperation with Sierra Leone in all areas, expand converging interests and create more growth points, so as to achieve common development of the two countries. President Koroma spoke positively of the bilateral relations, and indicated Sierra Leone's willingness to further improve its investment environment and expand cooperation with China to build a partnership of common prosperity. In August, a delegation of Sierra Leone's All People's Congress Party, led by its Secretary General Osman Foday Yansaneh, visited China. Samura Kamara, Sierra Leone's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, visited China in November.

In February, Jiang Weixin, Special Envoy of President Hu Jintao and Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, attended President Koroma's inauguration ceremony in Sierra Leone. Ambassador Zhong Jianhua, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs, visited Sierra Leone in October. In November, a delegation of the Communist Party of China, led by Vice Chairwoman Yu Hongqiu of All China Women's Federation, visited Sierra Leone.

In July, Sierra Leone's new Ambassador to China Victor Bockarie Foh presented his credentials to President Xi Jinping.

Fruitful results were obtained in exchanges and cooperation in business, health and other fields. In June, Hainan Rubber Group signed the Joint Venture Agreement on Rubber and Rice Planting and Processing Project in Sierra Leone with the Sierra Leonean government. In August, Sierra Leone's Health Minister Miatta Kargbo came to China to attend the Ministerial Forum on China-Africa Health Development.