Sun, November 08, 2009
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The 3rd Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs was held on Saturday afternoon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The conference had provided an important platform for the joint China-Africa efforts to promote cooperation between the two sides, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef said at the opening ceremony.
"Promoting Chinese-African cooperation is essential for the interests of both sides," he asserted.
Chinese-African relations had become a role model for South-South cooperation, and their close partnership spanned over half a century, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in his speech at the opening ceremony.
Their economic and trade cooperation had yielded fruitful results with the joint efforts of the two countries' governments and enterprises, he added.
Noting that China was the biggest developing country, and Africa was home to the largest number of developing nations, Wen said efforts to develop a mutually beneficial relationship between the two sides were significant for world peace and development.
The negative impact of the global financial crisis would not last forever, and both China and Africa would have more chances than challenges, Wen assured.
"This conference is a real opportunity to explore new ways of cooperation between Africa and China," said Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, Rachid Mohamed Rachid.
China-Africa trade links had developed greatly in the past few years, Rachid observed, adding that the years to come would witness more progress in their trade cooperation.
"I hope this conference would promote more cooperative projects between the two sides in the future," Rachid remarked.
"China can provide investments to turn African natural resources into constructive projects," Mohamed El-Masry, head of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce Union, told the conference.
"We have the will to work together for our countries, " he declared. "China is the first choice for us to boost our capacities."
On the sidelines of the meeting, several agreements and contracts were inked among Chinese and African enterprises, covering the areas of agriculture, energy, transport and infrastructure.
"Indeed, this is a very important opportunity to call together different business circles from China and Africa and see how to further their cooperation," M. N. Khethisa, Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning of Lesotho, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the meeting.
The 3rd Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs is part of a series of meetings held prior to the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which runs from Nov. 8 to 9.
Trade and industry ministers as well as over 800 business people from both sides attended the meeting.
The first China-Africa Business Conference was held in December 2003, ahead of the second FOCAC ministerial conference in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Nearly 500 Chinese and African entrepreneurs attended the 2003 conference. Contracts for 16 cooperation projects were signed, and letters of intention regarding cooperation for 15 projects were also inked, with a total worth 500 million U.S. dollars.
The business conference was successful in promoting contacts and exchanges between Chinese and African entrepreneurs. As a result, both sides decided to hold it simultaneously with the FOCAC ministerial conference in the future.
During the 2nd Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs held in Beijing in 2006, 16 cooperative deals worth nearly 1.9 billion dollars were reached between the two sides.
