Sierra Leone has been making notable progress despite having been in a ruinous civil war that lasted more than a decade, an Ebola outbreak and the recent mudslide.
Their path to recovery has been one that involved reviving the dented local economy and social development which China has played a great part in helping them recover.
Ties between the two countries stretch back 50 years.
China and Sierra Leone established diplomatic relations in 1971 on the foundation of mutual trust and respect.
The ties were further cemented in the same year when Sierra Leone voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the only and legitimate representative of China in the UN Body.
China is presently the biggest trade and investment partner with the West African nation with investments in several key areas including health, agriculture, infrastructure, human resource development among others.
“China and Sierra Leone cooperation is comprehensive and all round in infrastructure, despite government providing grants to Sierra Leone which has brought about visible projects, the Chinese side is also exploring new models of cooperation,” H.E. Wu Peng, the Chinese ambassador to Sierra Leone told CGTN in an interview.
“This partnership has significantly changed Freetown’s urban landscape. The city now boasts of a multi-use national stadium. China has built bridges, power transmissions, a port among others. Road work is also ongoing,” he continued.
“We have enjoyed a relationship with them in terms of providing us with infrastructure development certainly the Chinese has been in the forefront in providing us with the roads,” Ajibu Tejan Jalloh, the Sierra Leonean government spokesperson said.
In 2016 during a state visit to China, outgoing president, Ernest Bai Koroma together with his counterpart Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of cooperation documents after their talks in Beijing, which covered areas including diplomacy, economy, infrastructure development and health.
The two heads of state decided to upgrade bilateral relationship into a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.
“China encourages domestic enterprises and financial institutions to actively engage in infrastructure building and mining in Sierra Leone for mutually beneficial cooperation,” Xi said.
President Xi promised that his country would contribute to Sierra Leone’s industrialization and sustainable self-development, as well as support the country to develop agriculture and improve food security.
President Koroma acknowledged China’s true friendship to his country while taking the moment to thank China for taking the lead in the international community to aid Sierra Leone during the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in 2014.
China built a hospital in the capital Freetown that served during that time of the outbreak and continues to serve the residents until now.
The Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital serves around 300 patients daily.
‘We treated Ebola victims here for a period of about 8 months and then we switched on to become a general hospital. The hospital did well because it was one of the biggest holding and training Centre for Ebola,” Dr. Alex Kanu, the medical superintendent at the hospital told CGTN during an interview.
China has also made a commitment to constructing a Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Sierra Leone which will serve the West Africa Sub Region as well as build the capacity of the Sierra Leonean health sector.
Both nations are hoping to continue with their pursuit of a mutually beneficial cooperation.
