UN: China & Africa have much to offer one another

China and Africa have much to offer one another, Annan says

If China helps Africa ensure food security and fight HIV/AIDS, Africa, in turn, offers China huge investment opportunities in its emerging markets and mining sectors, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

In a message to the two-day Second Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in Addis Ababa, he stressed that Beijing can help the continent reach universally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for cutting poverty and tackling a range of social ills by the year 2015.

At the same time, he pointed out that "the vast and rich natural resources of the African soil are in need of Chinese technology and know-how, to be exploited and transformed in a sustainable way."

His remarks, delivered by Under-Secretary-General Zéphirin Diabré, also hailed the China-Africa Business Council as "an efficient forum for this type of cooperation."

Parallel to the forum with China and 46 African countries, the Business Council has scheduled meetings today and tomorrow involving representatives of 100 Chinese enterprises.

The first ministerial meeting was held in Beijing in 2000. According to the Chinese Government, the second conference aims to review the implementation of pledges made at the first and to explore new measures to deepen collaboration in such fields as human resources development, agriculture, infrastructure construction, investment and trade.

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