BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work closely with African countries to ensure the success of the upcoming fourth ministerial conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Thursday.

    Ma told a regular briefing that the fourth ministerial conference of the FOCAC is scheduled for early November in Egypt.

    Egypt will preside over the conference and China will co-chair it, Ma said, adding that they are now busy preparing for the conference.

    The ministerial conference will focus on evaluating the implementation of the follow-up actions after the Beijing Summit of the FOCAC held in Beijing in November 2006 and outlining the China-Africa cooperation for the next three years, he said.

    Ma said China would like to enhance communication with African countries to comprehensively fulfill the agreements of the Beijing Summit for the success of the fourth ministerial conference of the FOCAC and advancement of China-Africa cooperation.

    The FOCAC was jointly proposed and established by China and more than 40 African countries in 2000. It consists of meetings at three levels: the ministerial conference, senior officials meeting, and talks between the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum and the African Diplomatic Mission in Beijing.

    The first ministerial conference was held in Beijing in October 2000. The second was held in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, in December 2003 and the third in Beijing in November 2006.