Chinese News Agency Xinhua reports that Chinese Ambassador to Eritrea Shu Zhan is expecting trade and cultural relations with Eritrea to be strengthened further.

Shu points out that China has already aided a hospital, two schools and one human and social science institute to Eritrea and that trade volumes of China with Eritrea have reached $31 Million in 2008, which was a 7.6% increase compared to 2007.

The statements of the Ambassador follow previous steps taken by China and African countries to improve bilateral trade relations. For example, in August 2008 the China Development Bank signed a credit agreement worth $50 Million with PTA Bank, which stands for Eastern and Southern African Development Bank.

The shareholders of the PTA Bank are Eritrea, Burundi, Comoros, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The credit was supposed to support industrial sectors, which require heavy investment such as mining, telecommunication and infrastructure and was a result of the Bejing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006.

China is also involved in the gold mining projects in Eritrea with companies such as Donia Resources & Co (capitaleritrea).

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