Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun (2nd L) and Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ali Hassan (2nd R), co-preside over the Senior Officials Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Ning) Photo Gallery>>>

    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Senior Officials Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) kicked off in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday.

    Senior officials from China and African countries met here to prepare for the upcoming fourth ministerial meeting of FOCAC scheduled for Nov. 8-9.

    "The Senior Officials Meeting is to make preparation for the fourth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC to be held in two days," said Ibrahim Ali Hassan, secretary general of the fourth FOCAC ministerial meeting, at the opening ceremony.

    "The meeting is to review and adopt the draft program of work of the fourth ministerial conference," he said.

    Up till now, around 20 heads of state or government would take part in the ministerial meeting, according to Hassan.

    "A lot of progresses have been achieved and the Chinese-African relations have witnessed stable progress in the past few years," he said.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun speaks at the Senior Officials Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Ning) Photo Gallery>>>

    Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhai Jun said at the opening ceremony, "The influence of the global economic crisis has spread; hence, under such circumstances, this conference will be significant for further China-Africa cooperation."

    "The meeting will map out plans for China-Africa friendly cooperation," he added.

    Ambassador Ahmed Rezek, Egyptian coordinator for FOCAC, said Chinese and African officials have reached the declaration of Sharm el-Sheikh and the revised draft of the action plan.

    China and Africa have witnessed closer cooperation in various fields since the Beijing Summit in 2006, said Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the Chinese Follow-Up Committee of FOCAC and director-general of the Department of African Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    "In the action plan, China included plans to promote cooperation between the two sides in the future," said Zhang, adding "It also includes our priorities in the years to come."

    The main agenda of the upcoming ministerial conference is to review the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Program for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development and two documents adopted during the first ministerial meeting of the forum held in Beijing.

    The meeting is also expected to explore new initiatives and measures on the way toward Sino-African cooperation in priority areas such as human resources development, agriculture, infrastructure development, investment and trade.

    The FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.

    Since the launch of FOCAC in 2000, three ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing, Addis Ababa and Beijing respectively.

Special report: Wen visits Egypt, attends China-Africa forum