The China-Africa Cooperation Forum is different from some other forums or conferences for its follow-up actions have been well implemented, said Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.??

"The forum is not a talk shop," said Seyoum at a press conference jointly hosted with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing after the Second Ministerial Conference of the forum.

 

To prove his viewpoint, Seyoum gave a number of follow-up actions that have done since the First Ministerial Conference of the forum in Beijing, 2000, which include that the Chinese government to grant some least developed countries in Africa tariff-free treatment for their export to China, the establishment of the African Human Resources Development Fund in 2002 exclusively for African personnel training, and China's cancellation with 31 African countries on 156 matured debts totaling 10.5 billion yuan RMB (about US$1.27 billion).

 

Li, on his part, said he totally agrees with his "friend" on this point, adding that he wishes the friendship between Ethiopia and China, and the friendship between Africa and China, become "new and everlasting flower" that is beneficial to the Chinese people, the Ethiopian people and the African people.

 

The Second Ministerial Conference of the forum was opened here on Monday, aiming to greatly improve the all-around cooperation between China and African countries.

 

Highlighted by the action-oriented spirit, the meeting, which gathered China and more than 40 African government delegations, is the first ministerial conference of the forum held on the African continent, and will be a significant event in the Sino-African relationship.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2003)