Mali and China have signed a loan agreement worth FCFA 16.8 billion (US$33.5 million) to finance priority projects to improve the people’s standard of living in the West African nation, PANA reported.
The loan agreement was signed in Bamako, the Malian capital, Wednesday by Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Tieman Coulibaly, and Chinese Ambassador to Mali Cao Zong Ming.
A second loan agreement, worth FCFA 700 million (US$1.3 million) was also signed for the provision of office equipment and vehicles for the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The third agreement relates to the zero tariff treatment applying to 95 per cent of Malian products exported to China.
The agreement is part of the implementation of the action plan adopted last July at the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa cooperation.
At the conference, China had pledged to further open its market to African countries and has decided to grant, progressively under the South-South cooperation, the zero-tariff treatment to 95 percent of African members of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) having diplomatic ties with the Asian nation.