On December 22, 2025, H.E. Zhao Yong, the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, arrives in Freetown to assume his duties. He is welcomed at the airport by Mr. Umaru Conteh, Acting Director of the Department of Asian and Middle East Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as Sierra Leonean Government representative, along with Minister Councellor Mr. Zhang Dianbin and other diplomats from the Chinese Embassy.
Ambassador Zhao states that he is honored to be appointed as the 18th Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Julius Maada Bio, political mutual trust between the two sides has continued to deepen, practical cooperation has yielded fruitful results, international collaboration has become closer, and people-to-people exchanges have become increasingly active. The bilateral relations have been kept at a high level.
2026 marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Sierra Leone. He is willing to work with people from all walks of life in Sierra Leone to advance the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership between China and Sierra Leone.
Mr. Umaru Conteh, on behalf of the Sierra Leonean government, extends a warm welcome to Ambassador Zhao on his assumption of duties. He states that Sierra Leone attaches great importance to the friendly relations with China. Sierra Leone will join hands with China to make new achievements of the friendly cooperation between Sierra Leone and China.