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Vice-Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang said Monday that the Chinese Government "follows African development closely and has attached importance to expanding and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation with all African countries."
Speaking at the opening session of the Senior Official Meeting (SOM) of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum at Addis Ababa, Yang said: "We are ready to work with African countries in discussing and materializing the follow-up work of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and, through our concrete actions, support the implementation of the strategy of economic and social progress of the African continent."
China will continue to encourage the rest of the international community to provide tangible assistance for African countries to achieve stability and pursue growth within the framework of the United Nations to contribute to the rejuvenation of the African continent and its integration with the international community, according to Yang.
The SOM - the first one to be held in the wake of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation-Ministerial Conference Beijing 2000 and also the first time for the SOM to be held on the African continent - will mainly review the implementation of the documents adopted at the Beijing Conference.
It also has an important task of making preparations for the next Ministerial Conference and will discuss issues on the cooperation between the Forum and New Partnership on Africa's Development (NEPAD).
The official establishment of the African Union and the birth of NEPAD have created favorable conditions for African countries to eradicate poverty and seek development, said Yang.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin described the Beijing Ministerial Conference of the Forum on the China-Africa Co-operation in October 2000 as an important watershed in the history of bilateral relations between China and African countries.
Seyoum said the creation of the forum has "afforded us the opportunity to have a mechanism for nurturing and fostering China-Africa co-operation for the mutual interest of the two sides in a more organized and institutionalized matter.
"We have no doubt that Africa can continue to count on the solidarity of China in its struggle against poverty, and against marginalization in the globalizing world."
(China Daily November 26, 2002)
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