by Lin Jianyang, Guo Chunju, Chen Yao

    CAIRO, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Thursday that the China-Africa and China-Arab cooperation forums were "necessary and instrumental mechanisms" for boosting African and Arab cooperation with China.

    The AL chief made the remarks in a written interview with Xinhua on the eve of a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing.

    For one thing, FOCAC has helped the two sides raise the two-way trade volume, which increased from 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 to nearly 40 billion dollars in 2005, said Moussa.

    Of the 22 member states of the Cairo-based AL, 10 are located in North Africa. They are Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.

    Moussa said the upcoming summit will focus on the issues of friendship, peace, cooperation and development.

    The leaders of China and Africa will discuss the achievements of the China-Africa cooperation in the past 50 years, and both sides will adopt a plan to enhance cooperation in various fields, he added.

    The secretary general praised China for its efforts to strengthen the cooperation between Africa and China.

    "China is also taking some measures (to improve China-Africa cooperation), such as publishing African products catalogue and supporting African individual businesses in getting training from their Chinese counterparts and experts," he said.