China's top telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd signed a partnership agreement with Mali's state telecoms firm on Saturday as Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing visited the African country to boost ties, Reuters reported. Huawei will help Mali's Sotelma develop a wireless network by providing the equipment, setting up the network and helping Sotelma seek financing for the project, the agreement said. "The Chinese government can grant Mali concessional loans, specifying the loan is for Sotelma to develop the network," David Yuang, Huawei Technologies' deputy manager in Malim, told Reuters. "The protocol lays out the framework for cooperation." Li, who is on a six-nation tour of Africa aimed at increasing Beijing's economic and diplomatic presence on the continent, signed a 30 million yuan ($3.72 million) donation with his Malian counterpart Moctar Ouane as part of an accord for economic and technological cooperation. Africa's third-largest gold producer after South Africa and Ghana, Mali is one of the world's poorest nations with more than 90 percent of the population living on less than $2 a day. Li's tour comes as Beijing tries to convert diplomatic goodwill in Africa into concrete trade and investment agreements. After visiting Cape Verde and Senegal, which resumed diplomatic ties with China in October, Li will now head to Liberia and major oil producers Nigeria and Libya. Mali is also desperate to become an oil producer and has given exploration rights to several companies, including Chinese state-run oil and gas firm Sinopec Corp. Ouane said greater agricultural cooperation and cotton sales were also discussed. Mali is one of sub-Saharan Africa's top cotton producers. Chinese entrepreneurs are already involved in the sugar, health and textile industries. China has steadily built up its influence in the world's poorest continent since the 1960s and 1970s when it offered its support to newly independent African states and threw its weight behind independence movements. Beijing says it offers economic aid and cooperation "without strings", in contrast to Western countries which often demand commitments from poor African countries to fight corruption and improve human rights. Critics say the Chinese approach undermines international efforts to introduce good governance reforms in Africa. In Liberia, Li will attend the inauguration ceremony for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who will be sworn in as Africa's first elected female president on Jan. 16. 2213 140106 22 35 Local Time 19 35 GMT
