By Zainab Joaque
The Chinese ambassador to Sierra Leone has delivered what amounts to a frank talk in a paper delivered to journalists yesterday.
Kuang Weilin says that as African countries compete “fiercely” with one another for more investment and assistance from China, Sierra Leone must be "on a fast track" or it will be "unable to take full advantage of many opportunities".
He says he hopes "some people will be highly motivated and move faster so that both countries can act in tandem on some important projects".
Delivering a speech titled "Chinese Dream Means More Opportunities for Sierra Leone" at the headquarters of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, ambassador Kuang said, "I often hear people say 'don't hurry'. 'We can wait'. 'We have plenty of time.' That is why much precious time was wasted, opportunities lost and some projects delayed."
In an apparent reference to his interaction with government officials, Ambassador Kuang called for more attention to be given to the implementation of projects. He said that in China "a promise is a promise. When it is made, we should do whatever we can to fulfil it. But some people are not serious about their commitments and implementation. When they say they will call me back in ten minutes, they can keep me waiting for two weeks, or they do not call back for at all! When they promise to give me their schedule or plan or a name list next week, they may totally forget what they said the week before."
The ambassador continued, “’I am working on it' is often used by some as an excuse for not doing what is promised to. So I sometimes have to call them repeatedly to remind them what to do, very often for their own sake".
He told the gathering that "tremendous strides have been made in the bilateral cooperation over the last four decades" but the two countries should "come up with new ideas, formulate new policies, set up new cooperation models, design new mechanism...to keep up with the times and advance the cooperation to a new stage."
Kuang said the Chinese dream was centred on two goals: "to double both GDP and per capita income on the basis of the 2010 level by 2020...the second goal is to turn China into a modern socialist country by the middle of this century.”
He said that to achieve this China would "stay focused on the central task of development...transform its economic growth model and seek sustainable, balanced development...continue to press ahead with reform and opening-up and seek peaceful development".
Kuang said China, "while pursuing its dreams, wants to do more to help this country (Sierra Leone) realise its dreams.
(C) Politico 05/09/13
