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YAOUNDE : Chinese President Hu Jintao began a 12-day tour of Africa, his third since coming to power in 2003, stepping up China's campaign to win a larger share of Africa's oil and energy resources.
Hu launched the eight-nation trip by approving grants and loans to Cameroon worth more than US$54 million (41.5 million euros), the west African country's national radio reported.
The deals - for financial and infrastructure projects - were signed by Hu and his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya, at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Yaounde, where Biya urged China to invest in his country's natural resources and increase quotas for imports of Cameroonian basic commodities.
Hu's tour reflects China's strong economic interest in Africa, where it wants raw materials and energy reserves to fuel its roaring economic growth.
But Beijing's policy towards Africa has drawn concern in the West due to its close links with hardline regimes in countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe and its willingness to ignore politics.
Cameroon, Hu's first stop, is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by anti-graft organisation Transparency International.
On Wednesday, Hu and Biya signed agreements for two loans to Cameroon worth 30 and 40 million yuans (US$3.86 and US$5.15 million) covering economic and technical projects, and a preferential loan of 350 million yuans (US$45 million) to finance a telecommunications scheme.
They also signed a draft agreement on scrapping Cameroon's debt to China, whose amount was not revealed, and a series of health and educational accords, Cameroon national radio said.
Beijing is to build a mother and child hospital in Cameroon's economic hub, Douala, as well as two rural schools, and will supply medical equipment to a hospital in the capital, Yaounde.
After the ceremony, attended by large Chinese and Cameroonian delegations, Biya announced that talks with the Chinese were under way for further schemes to provide drinking water and build cheap housing.
He urged Chinese companies to invest in Cameroon's hydrocarbon, mineral and timber sectors and asked Beijing to increase its quotas for imports of coffee, cotton, cocoa, bananas and other Cameroonian commodities "to balance the flow of trade", the radio said.
China's trade with Cameroon was worth US$338 million in 2006 - double its value in 2005 - Beijing's ambassador to Yaounde, Wang Sifa, recently told government newspaper Cameroon Tribune.
Later on Wednesday, Hu, who is visiting Cameroon for the first time, was to visit a Chinese-funded hospital and a sports complex being built by a Chinese firm, before attending a gala dinner in his honour.
The Chinese president is due to leave on Thursday for Liberia and then travel on to Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and the Seychelles.
Rights groups hope Hu will use his visit to Sudan, where China is pumping substantial quantities of oil, to back international calls for an end to the civil war in the Darfur region, a conflict the United States has called genocide.
Beijing, by far the biggest foreign economic investor in Sudan, is thought to be in a position to persuade Khartoum to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur and hopes are high that China will flex its diplomatic muscle in order to burnish its international image.
Chinese officials visiting Sudan had until recently said Beijing would pursue its economic interests on the continent without delving into politics.
But before Hu's tour, Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun told journalists: "I believe this visit will not only boost bilateral ties but also peace and stability in this region."
However, the primary goal of Hu's trip is to foster even deeper economic ties with Africa.
Trade between the two sides reached US$55.5 billion last year, a more than five-fold increase from 2001, according to official Chinese figures. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said last year he hoped Sino-African trade would reach US$100 billion by 2010.
China argues that its economic policies are helping to lift the continent out of poverty.
At a historic summit in November 2006 that brought leaders from 48 African nations to Beijing, Hu pledged to double aid to the continent and offer US$5 billion in loans and credits by 2009.
Beijing pledged on Monday to write off debts owed by 33 African countries to help fast-track the continent's development. - AFP/de
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