Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 21, 2002
China-Africa Forum Plays Major Role in Upgrading Relations
The upcoming Senior Official Meeting and the Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will help boost the relations between China and Africa, said a senior Chinese official Thursday in Addis Ababa.
The upcoming Senior Official Meeting and the Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will help boost the relations between China and Africa, said a senior Chinese official Thursday in Addis Ababa.
The conference will "surely give new impetus to the development of trade and economic relations between China and Africa," said Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Ai Ping on the eve of the opening of the two-day Senior Official Meeting (SOM), which is scheduled to be held on Nov. 25 here.
He said the coming SOM is mainly to strengthen consultation and mutual understanding, adding this will be achieved through reviewing the activities and achievements registered in the fields of mutual cooperation between China and African countries.
The Chinese government, in accordance with the suggestion of some African countries, initiated the Forum and the Ministerial Meeting in Beijing, capital of China in the year 2000.
More than 80 ministers in charge of foreign affairs and external economic cooperation from 44 African countries attended the meeting.
Talking about the coming SOM, he disclosed that about 45 African countries, plus China, have committed to dispatching delegations to participate in the SOM.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang will lead a 20-member delegation to attend the meeting, added the ambassador.
According to the meeting's agenda available here, the meeting will review the follow-up actions implemented since the Beijing ministerial meeting in 2000, and will formulate and adopt a tentative agenda for the next Ministerial Conference of the Forum, which will be held in Addis Ababa in the year 2003.
Besides, the SOM will also have general discussion on cooperation between the Forum and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as well as the framework of a proposed parallel business summit next year.