Cabo Verdean Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Olavo Correia has said his government is committed to creating a Chinese-backed special maritime economic zone on and around the Cabo Verdean island of São Vicente next year, RTC reports.

The Cabo Verdean public television broadcaster quotes Mr Correia as telling a public meeting that the government is working hard to finish this year drafting legislation to create the zone.

The zone will be crucial to the development of the island, RTC quotes Mr Correia as saying.

Previously the Cabo Verdean state-run news agency, Inforpress, quoted Cabo Verdean Foreign Minister Luís Filipe Tavares as saying that the government was seeking Chinese financing for the zone, and that Chinese specialists were helping look into the feasibility of the project.