BEIJING -- Botswanian President Festus Mogae arrived here on Wednesday evening for the Beijing Summit of the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation.

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The two-day summit is scheduled to commence on November4. A total of 48 African countries having diplomatic relations with China will send delegations to the summit.

Describing the relations between China and Botswana as "excellent", the president hoped to promote bilateral trade through this visit to China.

China and Botswana established diplomatic relations on January 6, 1975. Mogae visited China in 2000 and Wu Guanzheng, a senior official of the Communist Party of China, visited Botswana this September. Bilateral trade reached 62.52 million U.S. dollars in 2005.

Prior to the summit, Mogae will visit the Three Gorges in central Hubei province where a hydropower plant is being built.