FOCAC ministerial meeting kicks off in Egypt
- Source: Xinhua
- [17:20 November 08 2009]
- Comments
The fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opened in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Sunday morning.
"FOCAC is to establish a new stage of relations between China and Africa and (a partnership) that Africa and China are looking forward to for peace, security and development," said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the opening ceremony.
Egypt was the first African country to recognize the People's
Republic of China more than half a century ago, and Egypt supports the one-China policy and also supports FOCAC from the first day of its establishment, said Mubarak.
"This reflects the solid relations between people of Africa and China throughout history and an effective model of fruitful South-South cooperation," he said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and African heads of state or government from 49 countries attended the opening ceremony.
The conference, with the theme of "deepening the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership for sustainable development," will last two days.
The main agenda of the meeting is to review the implementation of the follow-up activities of the FOCAC Beijing Summit and the 3rd ministerial conference and explore new initiatives and measures on the way toward Sino-African cooperation in such areas of priority as human resources, agriculture, infrastructure development, investment and trade.
