By Guo Chunju

    ASMARA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- China expects to strengthen mutual benefit cooperation with Eritrea in various sectors, including bilateral trade, agriculture, health, culture and education fields, Shu Zhan, Chinese ambassador to Eritrea said here on Sunday.

    Shu made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua ahead of the upcoming 16th anniversary of the founding of the State of Eritrea, with which China established relations on the exact day when Eritrea formally announced independence on May 24, 1993.

    "China and Eritrea has developed truly friendship since a long time ago. There are many exchanges of visits by top officials from both sides in recent years, with the bilateral ties deepened steadily," the Chinese envoy said.

    He further elaborated on some projects which Chinese companies undertook in the Eastern African country with the aid from the Chinese government, including a hospital, a human and social science institute, as well as two rural primary schools.

    Bilateral trade cooperation has been strengthened, with trade volume reaching 31 million U.S. dollars in 2008, a 7.6 percent year-on-year increase , according to the statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

    Shu also mentioned that bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector has been constantly deepened as the Eritrean agricultural minister and provincial governors made visits to China to learn experience and technology to develop agriculture in Eritrea.

    The two sides also reached intention of cooperation in the fields of introducing seeds, irrigation technology and human training methods from China, the Chinese top diplomat added.

    He also noted that the bilateral cooperation and exchanges in the fields of health, culture and education has developed smoothly, as Eritrea began to send college youth tutors to China for master's degrees in 2008, and China last year assigned computer and Chinese language teachers, as well as agriculture and sports volunteers, to work in Eritrea.

    On the economic developments of Eritrea in the past 16 years, Shu said the small eastern African country, under the leadership of President Isaias Afwerki, are exerting efforts to maintain political stability and improve the people's life in the meantime, as well as develop the telecommunication infrastructure.

    More dams and hospitals have been established in Eritrea, and the anti-malaria and the maternal and infant death rate reducing efforts have achieved a lot to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the Chinese envoy added.

    As the current global financial crisis is impacting Eritrea's economy, especially its reduced foreign remittance, Shu emphasized that Chinese leaders have clearly pledged that China will continue to increase aid to Africa, reduce or cancel African countries' debts, expand its trade and increase investment in Africa, despite the impact of the global financial crisis on China.

    He added that the follow-up measures of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006 has been implemented well in Eritrea.

    Eritrea, which currently has the population of about 5 million, formally announced its independence from Ethiopia in 1993.