Bissau, April 15, 2025(Lusa) - Guinea-Bissau's president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, on Tuesday inaugurated in Suru, six kilometres from the capital, Bissau, a factory that is to turn fish into flour and also produce fish-based oil, as part of an investment by a Chinese company. "This important industrial enterprise will produce fish flour, it will produce fish oil, it will create value and so we will be able to export our products with added value," said the head of state. The factory was built from scratch by China's Louis Marine Food, which plans to produce the equivalent of $10 million (€8.87 million) a year in fishmeal and fish oil, in a project that also includes a ship repair and construction yard. The president also noted that the Chinese-owned factory will employ "many young people" from the town of Suru, provide links between the islands off the coast there, and boost the economy of these islands. All this, he said, "demonstrates the determination" of the country's authorities to "make an extraordinary journey" also based on exploiting the sea - a resource that, he said, has been neglected. "In the past, Guinea-Bissau has not been able to value the sea as one of its most important strategic assets," said Embaló, who said that he is counting on China to “take a historic step forward” in the partnership tha he and the Asian giant's president, Xi Jinping, have outlined. The director of Louis Marine Food, Chen Caigen, explained that he decided to invest in Guinea-Bissau because it is "a country of impressive beauty, blessed with unique natural landscapes, with a people who are distinguished by their simplicity, warmth and hospitality." The businessman also praised the leadership of Sissoco Embaló, saying that with him "Guinea-Bissau has embarked on a path of greater openness and prosperity, adopting inclusive policies that are favourable to investment and the challenge of developing foreign businesses." Chen said that he set up the factory in Guinea-Bissau after opening one in Senegal and that in a second phase of the investment he aims to build a seafood preservation unit with a projected production value of $30 million (€26.6 million) a year. MB/ARO // ARO. Lusa