"It shows China is adjusting its focus on the way of assisting Africa, from helping them build visible infrastructure like bridges, roads and buildings to deepening assistance to ordinary people and cultural areas with the purpose of building intellectual backup for African countries' development," said He Wenping, a researcher with the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

For years, poor infrastructure and different customs and commodity inspection standards on the continent have hindered the development of African countries and their communication to the outside world.

"The future of our continent lies in integration, which is also an inevitable trend, as the continent will be more competitive when all countries are united," Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger, said when he met his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao during the conference. He spoke highly of China's efforts in supporting African countries' integration.

To further accelerate the process, China said it would support Africa in transnational and trans-regional infrastructural development and help them upgrade customs and commodity inspection facilities to promote intra-regional trade facilitation. "Such assistance is more practical as it was made based on the realities of the continent," He said.

"Offering aid to Africa is a win-win option for both sides," Chen Deming, Chinese Minister of Commerce. He noted that the aid will facilitate African countries' economic development and create more jobs, which will increase African people's incomes and purchasing power so that they could buy more Chinese products. On the other hand, aid projects in Africa will stimulate China's domestic economy by expanding imports of building materials from China.

Peacekeeping efforts

Wars and conflicts in some African countries still threaten people's security and hamper the countries' economic development. To create a secure environment for Africa's development, China will deepen cooperation with the African Union (AU) and African countries toward promoting peace and security. "China will provide financial support for AU peacekeeping missions and the development of the African Standby Force and train more security officials and peacekeepers for the AU," Chinese President Hu said at the opening ceremony.

"This is a new field in Sino-African cooperation and shows China supports the AU to play the leading role in safeguarding regional peace and stability," Wang Yizhou, Deputy Director of the School of International Studies with Peking University, said in an interview with Xinhua, adding that currently, besides political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, there were also potential elements that could trigger conflict inside Africa.

"Under such circumstances, strengthening cooperation in this field will increase African countries' capacity for solving regional hotspot issues by themselves," Wang added.

And China's financial support in this regard was also in line with African countries' expectations in regard to their long-time deficiency in capital and personnel for peacekeeping efforts, he said.

Priorities for the Next Three Years

- Investment and financing: China will provide $20 billion of credit line to African countries to assist them in developing infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and small and medium-sized enterprises.

- Assistance: China will train 30,000 personnel in various sectors for Africa. It will offer 18,000 government scholarships, build cultural and vocational skills training facilities, and send 1,500 medical personnel to African countries.

- Support for African integration: China will support Africa in transnational and trans-regional infrastructural development and help them upgrade customs and commodity inspection facilities to promote intra-regional trade facilitation.

- People-to-people friendship: China proposes to set up a "China-Africa Press Exchange Center" in China to encourage exchanges and visits between Chinese and African media. It will sponsor 100 programs for research, exchange and cooperation by Chinese and African academic institutions and scholars.

- Peace and stability: China will provide financial support for AU peacekeeping missions and the development of the African Standby Force and train more security officials and peacekeepers for the AU.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

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