Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso will make a State Visit to China between July 4 to 8, 2016, Chinese ambassador to Congo Xia Huang said on Tuesday in Brazzaville.

The visit will be an opportunity "for high level exchanges between the top leadership of both countries," the Chinese diplomat said.

During the visit, the leaders of both countries are expected to discuss issues of international concern as well as African matters and issues concerning the Central African sub-region.

Speaking of pockets of tension in Central Africa, the Chinese ambassador said leaders of the two countries will try to come up with ways "to mobilize the international community to guarantee proper management of persistent crises in the region."

However, the visit will particularly focus on cooperation between the two countries, not only in terms of their strategic partnership, but also under the South-South cooperation framework as well as Sino-Africa cooperation.

China is one of Republic of Congo's key partners, with a volume of trade that reached 5.87 billion dollars between January and November 2013, against 290 million dollars in 2002.

The forthcoming visit to China by Sassou Nguesso comes after a similar visit in 2014. During the visit, the two countries signed various agreements in different sectors such as economy, trade and social domains.

Since then, new projects especially in infrastructure construction such as the Pointe Noire Mineral Port and a railway line linking Pointe Noire to Brazzaville have been launched.

China, in the opinion of its leaders, wants to make this friendly country since 1964, "a pilot country" in its economic partnership in Central Africa.

Commenting on the two visits to China by the Congolese president in less than three years, Xia said "this was an exceptional case," adding that "it showed the quality of relations and deep trust between the two presidents."

"China remains close to Africa because it is the continent with the highest number of developing countries. It will continue to support efforts to restore peace and stability on the continent," the ambassador added.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2016)