Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz called for closer ties with China on Monday during a visit to the Asian country, the official AMI news agency reported.

"The Mauritanian government wants more infrastructure and bigger involvement of the CTCE company in Mauritania's development," the agency quoted the president as saying, referring to the China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group.

Ould Abdel Aziz arrived in the central city of Hefei late Sunday accompanied by several members of his government and on Monday visited the CTCE.

New China news agency said he was the guest of honour at a Chinese-Arab economic and trade forum in Yinchuan in the northwest.

China and Mauritania meanwhile signed an agreement granting the Mauritanian armed forces financial support worth 20 million yuan (2.3 millions euros, 3.1 million dollars).

Chinese companies are already involved in the Mauritanian construction sector as well as in the improvement of the country's road and port infrastructure.

Last year Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf laid the first stone of a 120-million-dollar complex for the fishing industry, financed by China.

The complex will include a warehouse with a capacity for 6,000 tonnes of fish along with facilities to make ice and treat and develop seafood products, AMI said.

The project will also see the development of a flotilla of 46 deep-sea fishing ships and another 100 fishing boats. The complex will provide some ship building and maintenance.

According to AMI, the development will provide about 2,500 jobs, with a large number set aside for Mauritanian women.

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