Chinese president wraps up Africa tour with successful summit

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 5 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a five-day trip to Africa on Saturday after co-chairing a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Xi and African leaders reached consensus on lifting China-Africa relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership at the two-day Johannesburg Summit.

Two significant documents, including a declaration of the summit and an action plan for cooperation in the coming three years, were agreed by the leaders, setting a bright prospect for China-Africa relations.

They also adopted a package of programs, proposed by Xi and aimed at strengthening China-Africa cooperation and supporting Africa's development in the next three years.

The 10 major plans covered the areas of industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.

China will offer 60 billion U.S. dollars of funding support to ensure the implementation of the initiatives, Xi said in a keynote speech at the summit.

The Chinese and African leaders also agreed to enhance unity on the international stage to safeguard their common interests and overall interests of developing countries.

Xi praised the summit as a perfect, remarkable and historic one in his concluding remarks.

The summit was the second of its kind in the 15-year history of the FOCAC. The first China-Africa summit took place in 2006 in Beijing.

During his Johannesburg stay from Thursday to Saturday, Xi also held separate and group meetings with dozens of African leaders, attended a conference with business dignitaries, and participated in several other relevant activities.

Prior to the summit, the Africa tour took Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan to Zimbabwe's capital Harare and South Africa's executive capital Pretoria to pay state visits.

It was Xi's second trip to the remote African continent as president. In March 2013, he included three African states on his first overseas tour, shortly after taking office.