国内英语新闻:Decade-old China-Africa Cooperation Forum yields abundant fruits

NAIROBI, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Jointly set up by China and Africa in October 2000, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has made abundant achievements in the last decade, boosting the development of the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership in an all-round and tangible way.

The FOCAC, a collective consultation and dialogue mechanism between China and African countries, is the first of its kind in the history of China-Africa relations. It is a major future- oriented move taken by both sides in the context of South-South cooperation to seek common development in the new situation.

Besides four ministerial meetings, the forum held a summit in November 2006 in Beijing, when Chinese President Hu Jintao and his African counterparts agreed unanimously to building "a new type of strategic partnership featuring political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges". It is an important milestone and beacon for the China-Africa relation development in the new times. The Chinese government has fully implemented the eight initiatives of assistance developed at a series of ministerial conferences and particularly at the Beijing Summit. Moreover, a new set of eight initiatives has been launched since the 4th Ministerial Conference of FOCAC last year.

With a prosperous FOCAC, China-Africa relations registered considerable progress in all sectors. Over the past 10 years, mutual political trust had continued to deepen between China and Africa, practical cooperation had progressed on multiple fronts and exchanges and mutual learning had intensified, noted Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, addressing a seminar marking the 10th anniversary of FOCAC last month in Pretoria, South Africa.

HIGH LEVEL OF MUTUAL TRUST

China is the largest developing country while Africa is the continent with largest number of developing countries. The population of the FOCAC's member states accounts for around one third of the world's total. The forum, initially launched to further strengthen the friendly relations between the two sides, and jointly meet the challenges of the new era, have attracted the attention of the whole world since 2000.

The forum witnessed the most frequent high-level contacts and personnel exchanges between China and Africa. During the decade, Chinese President Hu Jintao paid six visits to Africa. The two sides supported each other on major international issues and bilateral issues, and coordinated more closely in international affairs. With its contribution, China-Africa relations have entered a new stage of fast, comprehensive and stable development.

The first FOCAC ministerial conference, held in Beijing in October 2000, was aimed at addressing globalization and enhancing cooperation between China and African countries.

To strengthen the FOCAC mechanism and better implement its follow-up actions, the Chinese side established its FOCAC Follow- Up Committee in December 2001, which is composed of senior officials from 21 ministries, state commissions and agencies. In December 2003, the second ministerial conference was convened in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. The third ministerial meeting and a summit was held in November, 2006 in Beijing. And the fourth ministerial meeting was held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el- Sheikh on Nov. 8-9, 2009.

During its development, the forum has formed into a multi-level dialogue mechanism between ministers, senior officials etc., and a consultation platform for its members' leaders, foreign ministers and African ambassadors to China. The two sides held collective dialogue, planned for the future development of China-Africa relations within the forum. Contacts between their parliaments, political parties and local authorities have also deepened.

The forum has creatively determined the consensus reached by two sides on the form of official documents, such as the Beijing Declaration and the Program for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development, adopted in 2000, and the Sharm el- Sheikh Declaration and Sharm el-Sheikh Action Plan, adopted in 2009. In such way, the forum not only consolidated the results of Sino-African exchanges over the past more than half a century, but also laid a more solid foundation for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Africa.

Through the years, China has always uphold the concept of non- interference in other countries' internal affairs, and do not seek to export its values and development models to African countries, but to help them address food security, health care, education and other issues with numerous reconstruction projects, donations, personnel training programs, preferential loans and debt relief.

At the same time, the initiatives of each ministerial meetings are innovative and with continuity. The proposed objectives of these meetings can be completed on schedule or even ahead of time. This demonstrates China, as the largest developing country and a responsible country, is greatly concerned on Africa's development and the growing China-Africa strategic mutual trust.

On the twentieth session of the World Economic Forum on Africa, held in Tanzania, 2010, the African representatives generally agreed that the strategic interests of China and Africa had become increasingly inseparable. The bilateral relations between China and Africa are evolving to a real win-win partnership.