Spotlight: Xi charts course for upgrading China-Africa ties at landmark summit

Local medical staff receive training from Chinese doctors on Ebola treatment in Monrovia, Liberia, Dec 3, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

On poverty reduction, Xi said China will launch 200 "Happy Life" projects and special programs focusing on women and children, and cancel outstanding debts in the form of bilateral governmental zero-interest loans borrowed by the relevant least developed African countries that mature at the end of 2015.

In order to help Africa accelerate agricultural modernization, China will carry out agricultural development projects in 100 African villages to raise rural living standards, send 30 teams of agricultural experts to Africa, and establish a "10+10" cooperation mechanism between Chinese and African agricultural research institutes, he added.

"China is greatly concerned about the poor harvest caused by El Nino in many African countries and will provide 1 billion yuan (156 million dollars) of emergency food aid to the affected countries," he said.

On security cooperation, Xi announced that China will provide a total of 60 million dollars in free aid to the African Union (AU) to support the building and operation of the African Standby Force and the African Capacity for the Immediate Response to Crisis.

"China will continue to participate in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa and support African countries' capacity building in areas such as defense, counter-terrorism, riot prevention, customs and immigration control," he said.

Officers of Chinese peacekeepers of UN Mali Mission chat with an elder after bringing medicines to villagers in Gao, Mali, May 27, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Enthusiastic responses

Xi's address was warmly welcomed by other leaders at the Johannesburg summit of the 15-year-old FOCAC, which groups China, 50 African countries that have established diplomatic ties with China, and the Commission of the AU, and has immediately drawn an enthusiastic response from officials and observers from across the region.

In their respective speeches at the opening ceremony, South African President Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who also holds the rotating AU chair, and AU Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma spoke highly of Africa-China relations and the raft of cooperation measures Xi announced.

Echoing Xi's proposal to raise the Africa-China relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, they vowed to work with China to steer bilateral interaction into an even brighter future.

"We have been very impressed by the speech of President Xi, because it is a very concrete proposal and a road map for the cooperation between China and Africa," said Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, president of the Commission of the Economic Community of West Africa States.

With the 10 areas of cooperation listed in Xi's speech corresponding to the priority of Africa, "we believe that is a starting point of a very successful cooperation between China and Africa," he told Xinhua.