Chinese technicians expected in Guinea Bissau to help with building maintenance

Ten Chinese technicians will be sent to Guinea Bissau in October to offer skills on maintenance of public buildings constructed by China.

An agreement was signed here Thursday between Chinese Ambassador to Guinea Bissau Wang Hua and the West African country's Infrastructure Minister Rui Da Araujo Gomes.

The ten experts will help in the maintenance of the Government Palace, parliament, a military hospital, the Sept. 24 National Stadium and the new Palace of the Republic whose construction work ended in July.

During their stay, the Chinese experts will train some Guinea Bissau citizens, who will maintain the buildings once the Chinese have left.

Ambassador Wang declared that the signing of the agreement constituted a new phase for cooperation between China and Guinea Bissau.

Gomes on his part said relations between Beijing and Bissau date back to the first days of the liberation war against the Portuguese colonial army in Guinea Bissau.

"The Chinese aid represents exemplary cooperation. We appreciate the gesture of the Chinese people and the Communist Party," he said.