Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Thursday
that the China-Africa and China-Arab cooperation forums were
"necessary and instrumental mechanisms" for boosting African and
Arab cooperation with China.
The AL chief made the remarks in a written interview with Xinhua
on the eve of a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
(FOCAC) in Beijing.
For one thing, FOCAC has helped the two sides raise the two-way
trade volume, which increased from US$10 billion in 2000 to nearly
US$440 billion in 2005, said Moussa.
Of the 22 member states of the Cairo-based AL, 10 are located in
North Africa. They are Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya,
Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.
Moussa said the upcoming summit will focus on the issues of
friendship, peace, cooperation and development.
The leaders of China and Africa will discuss the achievements of
the China-Africa cooperation in the past 50 years, and both sides
will adopt a plan to enhance cooperation in various fields, he
added.
The secretary general praised China for its efforts to
strengthen the cooperation between Africa and China.
"China is also taking some measures (to improve China-Africa
cooperation), such as publishing African products catalogue and
supporting African individual businesses in getting training from
their Chinese counterparts and experts," he said.
Moussa also hailed the idea of developing a new type of
African-Chinese strategic partnership, initiated by Chinese
President Hu Jintao, saying Hu's proposal was "a recipe for a
successful relationship between nations."
During his visit to Nigeria in April, Hu put forward the
proposal when addressing the country's National Assembly in
Abuja.
Hu's proposal contained such key points as strengthening
political mutual trust, expanding win-win economic cooperation,
increasing cultural interaction, enhancing security cooperation,
and maintaining close coordination in international affairs among
China and African nations.
Moussa said President Hu mentioned these points during their
talks in Beijing in May when China hosted the second ministerial
meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum.
"Should these guidelines be faithfully and systematically
pursued, I believe that African and Arab cooperation with China
could make the progress that we hope to achieve," he said.
Commenting on China-Arab Cooperation Forum, Moussa said much had
been achieved since the forum was formed in 2004. "But the
potential is huge and we have great ambitions for these relations,"
he said.
"The Sino-Arab cooperation is a good example for the South-South
cooperation that we have been advocating for so many years," said
Moussa.
(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2006)
