UN Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the Chinese Government's announ-cement that it would double its aid to Africa by 2009. "This summit is an historic opportunity for China and Africa to build on these shared ideals, and to advance South-South cooperation," he said in a statement released by his spokesman.

"Viewing President Hu's speech, especially the measures to train African professionals, send agricultural experts to Africa and increase the number of Chinese Government scholarships to African students, we can see that China is changing its mode of aid to Africa from material aid to supplying the foundation for them to develop independently. This can promote the sustainable development of African countries," said Shen Jiru, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Trade and investment were new highlights of the summit. After two days of dialogue among more than 1,500 entrepreneurs from both sides, a total of 14 cooperative agreements were signed with a contractual value reaching $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, the China-Africa Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established on November 5.

According to a recent report from the World Bank, China's investment in Africa is exerting a positive influence on the continent's economic growth and that influence will continue to increase in the future.

"The forum supplies an excellent platform to bring entrepreneurs from China and Africa together and can give us access to the great market in Africa," said Fu Dongxing, Manager of the Africa Sector of the Overseas Market Department of Zhenzhou Yutong Group, one of China's vehicle makers.

At the Second Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs held on November 5, Fu was one of the busiest persons there. Within an hour he had spoken to nearly 10 African enterprises from Togo, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Egypt, discussing opening vehicle factories in Africa.

"We have done business in Egypt for two years and our next step is to set up assembly plants in Africa," he said. "It is really outside of my expectation that so many African enterprises have shown an interest in cooperating with us." Yutong recently established a facility in Egypt to increase its after-sales service in Africa.

Boost in trade

Trade between China and Africa continues to increase dramatically. Currently, China is Africa's third-largest trading partner after the United States and France. In 2005, the bilateral trade volume reached $39.74 billion, up 35 percent year on year. The number is 10 times that of 1995. According to Zhou Yabin, head of the West Asia and Africa Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the Sino-African trade volume in 2006 is expected to exceed $50 billion.

Cairo will host the next FOCAC meeting, and economic relations between China and Egypt also made a breakthrough at the summit. On November 6, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding under which Egypt acknowledges China's full market economy status and promises fair treatment for Chinese companies in international trade.

Egypt, the first African country to establish diplomatic relations with China, currently is China's sixth-largest trading partner on the continent with last year's bilateral trade hitting $2.15 billion. The figure totaled $1.96 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 47.6 percent over the same period of 2005. According to Bo Xilai, China's Minister of Commerce, Sino-Egyptian trade may reach $5 billion in the next five years.

Currently, China has several billion dollars of investment in Egypt and the figure is expected to exceed $5 billion in the coming seven to eight years.