BEIJING - Ministers and representatives from China and 48 African countries started a ministerial meeting here Friday to make final preparations for the high-profile Beijing summit due to open Saturday.

The Third Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is held in Beijing, Nov. 3, 2006. [Xinhua]

 

Participants will discuss a draft declaration, which is expected to be submitted to and passed at the summit, and an action plan, which lays out cooperative programs between China and Africa from 2007 to 2009 under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The Third Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is held in Beijing, Nov. 3, 2006. [Xinhua]

The two documents will give guiding principles for the development of China-Africa relations and their future cooperation, sources with China's Foreign Ministry said.

"The FOCAC, which was set up in 2000, is a key strategic move by China and Africa to face up to the challenges in the new century, promote traditional friendship and enhance reciprocal cooperation," Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said at the opening ceremony of the meeting.

Wu said the FOCAC has launched a series of cooperative plans and become a key platform and effective mechanism for collective dialogue and pragmatic cooperation.

"The FOCAC and its development will provide useful experience for South-South cooperation," Wu said.