The Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced that São Tomé e Príncipe Prime Minister Jorge Bom Jesus will attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2019.

The ministry says in a written announcement posted on its website that the conference begins on Thursday on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

Separately, Lusa reports that while on Hainan the prime minister will meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a speaker at the conference.

The Portuguese news agency also quotes Mr Bom Jesus as saying that while in China he will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping with a view to increasing co-operation and luring Chinese investors to put money into big projects in São Tomé e Príncipe.

“Right now São Tomé e Príncipe needs financing as much as air to breathe,” Lusa quotes Mr Bom Jesus as saying. “Given China’s economic potential and our friendship, we will ask China for all the help possible.”