2000

The first ministerial conference of FOCAC was held in Beijing 10-12 October, marking the official establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Chinese President Jiang Zemin and 6 other Heads of State and Government as well as more than 80 ministers from China and 44 African countries, representatives of 17 regional and international organizations, people from the business communities of China and Africa participated in the conference. Beijing Declaration of the FOCAC and Program for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development were adopted. The Chinese Government made four commitments as follow:

l continue providing assistance to African countries and gradually expand the scale of assistance,

l reduce and exempt debt worth 10 billion RMB yuan owed by those heavily indebted poor countries and the least developed countries in Africa in the coming 2 years,

l provide special fund to competent Chinese companies with credit so as to support and encourage them to invest in Africa,

l To set up Africa Human Resources Development Fund and expand the fund step by step in a bid to help African countries train professional talents.

2003

The second ministerial conference of FOCAC was held in Addis Ababa 15-16 December 2003. In the FOCAC Addis Ababa Action Plan (2004-2006) adopted by the conference, the Chinese side made the following commitments:

l continue to increase assistance to African countries under the FOCAC framework;

l help train up to 10,000 African personnel in different fields in three years;

l grant tariff-free market access to some commodities from the least developed countries in Africa;

l expand tourism cooperation with Africa;

l sponsor "Meet in Beijing"- an international art festival focusing on African arts and the "Voyage of Chinese Culture to Africa";

l increase people-to-people exchanges with Africa and propose a "China-Africa Youth Festival" to be held in China in 2004

2006

The third ministerial conference was turned into a special summit that was held in Beijing 4-5 November 2006. Declaration of Beijing Summit and FOCAC Action Plan (2006-2009) were adopted by 49 heads of state and government from China and African countries. Chinese President Hu Jintao announced the Chinese government’s decision to take following eight measures to assist the development of the African countries in the three-year period from 2006 to 2009:

l Double China’s 2006 assistance to Africa.

l Provide US$ 3 billion of preferential loans and US$ 2 billion of preferential buyer’s credits.

l Set up a China-Africa development fund that will reach US$ 5 billion to support Chinese companies to invest in Africa.

l Build a conference center for the African Union to support African integration.

l Cancel debt matured at the end of 2005.

l Open up China’s market to Africa by granting zero-tariff to 440 items of commodities that are exported to China from the African LDCs.

l Establish three to five trade and economic cooperation zones.

l The last measure includes another eight small items: ① train 15,000 African professionals, ② send 100 senior agricultural experts, ③ set up 10 agricultural technology demonstration centers, ④ build 30 hospitals, ⑤ build 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers and provide anti malaria medicine, ⑥ build 100 rural schools, ⑦ dispatch 300 youth volunteers and ⑧ increase government scholarship from 2,000 per year to 4,000 per year by 2009.

2009

The fourth ministerial conference will be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt 8-9 November 2009. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and some heads of state and government from African countries are expected to attend the conference.