Luanda — Chinese Ambassador to Angola Gong Tao, on Thursday considered positive the bilateral cooperation between Angola and China with focus, among other things, on economic and infrastructure investments.

Speaking in a press conference in Luanda, the Chinese diplomat said the relationship between the two countries is good, strong and has lasted for 40 years.

The Asian diplomat pointed out that Angola and China are strategic partners, with political and diplomatic relations and cooperation that have seen a remarkable increase since the year 2000, leading to the signing of several legal instruments in various areas of social, commercial and business life, among others.

According to the diplomat, since 2007 Angola has been China's largest trading partner in Africa, reaching 24.8 billion US dollars turnover in 2010.

Gong Tao noted that there has been a 42 percent increase in the trade sector between the two nations, with investments reaching 35 billion US dollars.

The diplomat explained that Angola's biggest export to China is oil, being the sixth African country that exports crude oil to the Asian country, as well as minerals such as rocks, granite, copper and magnesium, aluminum and its products.

"China is currently Angola's largest creditor, in several lines, through state banks," The Chinese diplomat said.

The debt paid essentially with oil sales was around 23 billion US dollars by 2019. At the end of 2018, China approved a new financing line of 2 billion US dollars, the diplomat said.

The Chinese ambassador said Angola's current debt with China is 21.4 billion US dollars, channeled in investment projects with the aim to aid the socio-economic growth of this Southern African country .

Gong Tao reaffirmed the interest of Chinese businesspersons to continue investing in Angola, which has shown positive prospects, in the areas of industry, fisheries, agriculture, among others, to increase national production.