In the wake of a reported interest from the Indian steel giant, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, one of India's major steel producers with a significant presence in sectors like Mining, Power Generation and Infrastructure, the Chinese government has for the first time publicly disclosed previously speculated interest in Liberia's Wologisi mines.

Mr Zhao Jianhua Chinese Ambassador to Liberia, in a tete a tete with media executives at the Chinese Embassy in Monrovia said that while China has not formally engaged the Liberian government in a discussion for Wologisi it will exercise responsibility if given the opportunity.

Ambassador Jianhua said that "There is one thing I can assure you and that is if China gets the concession agreement for Wologisi, China will be very much responsible to develop the Wologisi Iron mines."

The Chinese envoy said that in the meantime, the company which is going to have the concession will carry out social responsibility projects. I think these projects must be proposed not only by the Liberian government but also by the people of Lofa because they are going to be the direct beneficiaries of this kind of social responsibility projects. But it is too early for us to talk about it in details because we are not engaged in any formal negotiations at all and there have been a lot of media coverage recently with regard to Wologisi. I read in the newspaper that there is interest from a company in India and there are some other people who are involved in this but China does not have any formal negotiations with the Liberian authorities.

The Chinese interests in Wologisi comes amid speculations in Monrovia last week which have been bolstered by claims from Lofa County lawmaker Eugene Fallah Kparkar that plans are under for a private jet to fly a number of Liberian lawmakers to India to get a first hand knowledge of Jindal's work. At a weekly news conference Thursday, Deputy Information Minister Mr Norris Tweah dismissed the reports as baseless.

JSPL is a part of the USD 18 billion diversified O P Jindal Group and is consistently tapping new opportunities by increasing production capacity, diversifying investments, and leveraging its core capabilities to venture into new businesses. The company has committed investments exceeding USD 30 billion in the future and has several business initiatives running simultaneously across continents. Mr Naveen Jindal, the youngest son of the legendary Shri O P Jindal spearheads JSPL and its group companies. The company produces economical and efficient steel and power through backward and forward integration.