Ethiopian president Mulatu Teshome sees China's investments in Africa as a key driver that will transform the future of the continent.
Speaking from the Presidential Palace in Addis Ababa, the president said the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank are both contributing significantly to economic development in Africa.
Mulatu compared the roles the two institutions have in the construction of infrastructure in the continent to the Marshall Plan which was used to transfer U.S. aid to Europe after World War II.
Mulatu assumed the presidency in October to become Ethiopia's fourth president, succeeding GirmaWolde-Giorgis who ran the country's for two six-year terms.
Mulatu speaks fluent Chinese, having spent more than 10 years in Beijing as a student, later as a lecturer, and much later as Ethiopia's ambassador to Beijing in the 1990s.
He says that through such summits as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China has geared its agenda from humanitarian aid to trade and business.
He added that Western powers granted international aid in the 1980s and 1990s in the form of humanitarian aid, but China altered this into one that has its foundation on economic alliance through trade and investment.
Mulatu, who convened with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Addis Ababa early this month, says that China's thrust differs from that employed by the World Bank and other institutions based in Washington. He added that China has no vested interest in the investment or aid being given to African countries.
Countries have their own internal policies and varying political views and approaches, and China is essentially acceding to all of them, Mulatu added.