BEIJING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The decade-old Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has made abundant achievements including greatly boosting bilateral trade, exchanges and ties, and faces a promising future due to both sides' sustainable efforts to further promote it.
Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will give a speech Thursday at the opening ceremony of a seminar on FOCAC's 10th anniversary held in South Africa.
The forum was established in Beijing in October 2000 to boost China-Africa cooperation in various fields.
Besides four ministerial meetings, the forum held a summit in November 2006 in Beijing, when Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a package of proposals to provide assistance and increase investment to build a new type of strategic partnership with Africa.
Big progress in China-Africa relations has been made over the past 10 years, partly owing to the forum. China's business activities in Africa have greatly boosted local economies and infrastructure, created jobs and improved people's living conditions.
Bilateral trade rocketed from 10.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 to 91 billion in 2009, making China Africa's biggest trade partner.
China's direct investment in Africa rose from 210 million dollars in 2000 to 1.44 billion in 2009, while Africa's direct investment in China increased from 280 million to 1.31 billion during that period.
Chinese firms or joint ventures in Africa had employed at least 300,000 locals by the end of 2009, and China's contracted projects in Africa accumulatively had amounted to 205.2 billion dollars by August.
Besides, Chinese companies have built some 60,000 km of roads and power stations with a total generating capacity of 3.5 million kw in Africa.
Successful China-Africa cooperation and China's performance in Africa appear to be arousing worry, envy and criticism in some Western countries, the traditional heavyweights in Africa.
Some Western officials and armchair critics complain China has used its programs and investment in Africa to squeeze energy and raw materials from the underdeveloped continent. They even try to sell a cock-and-bull story by saying China is imposing so-called "neocolonialism" on the African people.
Those comments are not grounded in fact and go against the views of Africans. In fact, African leaders and people have greatly applauded China's achievements on their continent.
In October, Nolana Ta Ama, dean of the African Diplomatic Corps in China and Togo's ambassador to China, said FOCAC has yielded fruitful results since its establishment, expressing hope that China would continue its successful policies to boost cooperation with Africa.
Early this year, Zambian President Rupiah Banda said it is widely recognized that Chinese investors have contributed a lot to the African economy and are sincerely helping the African people.
Building on previous achievements, China and Africa are making fresh efforts to develop bilateral cooperation in various fields.
For example, the fifth FOCAC ministerial meeting is scheduled to be held in Beijing in 2012.
Without doubt, FOCAC is facing a promising future because it conforms to the world trend of development and cooperation and serves the common interests of the Chinese and African peoples.
