Visit seeks to promote agreements

China and Africa are good friends and old friends. At the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, a month ago, the foreign ministers of some African countries graciously invited me to visit the continent again, and I happily accepted the invitation.

This is my third official visit to Africa as China’s Foreign minister, and I will visit five countries on this trip: Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Algeria and Morocco. It has been the choice of successive Chinese foreign ministers for nearly 20 years — an unwritten tradition in China’s diplomacy — to start official overseas visits with a trip to Africa at the beginning of every year.

This shows that China and Africa are good and old friends. It also means that China attaches importance to Africa and will never forget her old friend. At the same time, I would be even happier to come to Africa as an ordinary Chinese, meet the people here, talk with them face to face and hear what they think of China and where they want China-Africa relations to go.

In this way, I could have listened to the voices of the African people and felt the pulse of the China-Africa relations from the grassroots. In recent years, China has achieved remarkable success in her quest for development. But we are keenly aware that China remains a developing country, with 150 million people living in poverty.

China’s roots are always in the developing world. That is why it has always been and will remain the starting point and foothold of China’s foreign policy to enhance cooperation with Africa and the rest of the developing world.

HAVING WITHSTOOD THE vicissitudes for more than half a century, China-Africa relations are enjoying broad popular support and a solid political foundation. We should build on past achievements and forge a new type of strategic partnership so as to increase the vitality and creativity of our cooperation in the new era and bring more benefits to both sides.

In fact, with the joint efforts, China-Africa relations have made much progress in recent years as evidenced by deeper political mutual trust, closer cooperation for mutual benefits, and stronger people-to-people ties.

It is especially worth mentioning that in the haze of the international financial crisis, both China and Africa have met the difficulties head-on and accelerated our cooperation, which has become a highlight in the international cooperation for development.

This showcases the strong vitality and great promise that will be released when the largest developing country and the largest developing continent in the world join hands and move forward.

At the turn of the century, China and Africa, in the face of the global challenges and in the spirit of South-South cooperation, jointly established the FOCAC — an important platform for collective dialogue and an effective mechanism for pragmatic cooperation.

The forum has grown in strength over the past nine years, and has played a crucial role in advancing China-Africa cooperation.

The Fourth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC in November 2009 was another significant and win-win event for both sides. The conference spelled out our commitment to cement friendship, deepen cooperation, face challenges together and seek common development.

PREMIER WEN JIABAO, announced eight new measures to promote cooperation with Africa, including tackling climate change and strengthening technological cooperation. He echoed the idea of joint response to major global challenges. China will work with all member states of FOCAC to implement the outcomes of the ministerial conference in a concrete way.

One of the important missions of my visit is to show the sincerity of the Chinese government, discuss with African countries the implementation action on the ground, and bring the outcomes of the conference to the African people.

-H E Yang Jiechi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China