The fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is slated for July 19 to 20 in Beijing, China, according to organisers.The high-level forum will review the implementation of follow-up activities from the previous conference held in 2009 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Foreign ministers and ministers for economic cooperation from China and 50 African countries, as well as African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Jean Ping, are expected to attend.At the 2009 meeting, the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced eight new measures the Chinese government would take to strengthen China-Africa cooperation.They included building up financial capacity of Africa with Beijing helping Africa through a US$10 billion concessional loan, and support Chinese financial institutions it would set up a special loan of $1 billion targeting small- and medium-sized African businesses. For the heavily indebted countries and least developed countries in Africa with diplomatic relations with China, the latter would cancel their debts associated with interest-free government loans.Speaking to The New Times, yesterday, Louise Mushikiwabo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said Rwandan officials would attend the forum.“The Minister of Finance will represent Rwanda at FOCAC. Rwanda has benefited a lot from this cooperation. FOCAC is a good programme,” she said.She spoke of China as a strong partner of Rwanda noting the two countries plan to kick start a five year infrastructural project financed by the Asian giant. Mushikiwabo was in China a few weeks ago for an official visit during which she met with senior government officials.Last year, Rwanda and China signed six economic and technical cooperation agreements during the visit of Chinese International Trade Representative and Deputy Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng, to Rwanda.The pact included two financial agreements of Yuan 50m (approx Rwf4.6bn) to fund the projects agreed upon by both governments and another Yuan 50m, as a five-year interest-free loan. Both governments also signed an agreement to dispatch a team of experts to Rwanda for a feasibility study on a 25 kilometre road project in the City of Kigali, financed by the Chinese government.Rwanda says it backs the Sio-Africa partnership put forward during the Beijing summit in 2006. President Paul Kagameattended the previous conference in Egypt.Next week’s conference will also examine and adopt the “Beijing Declaration” and “Beijing Action Plan (2013-2015)” to define a new pact to be undertaken over the next three years.The FOCAC is a collective consultation and dialogue mechanism between China and African countries launched in 2000. The four previous ministerial conferences were held in Egypt, Beijing, Addis Ababa and Beijing, respectively.
