Chinese president praises imporoving ties with Africa

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday lauded noticeable improvement of the Chinese-African relations due to "hard work" spanning 70 years. Addressing the inaugural session of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) , the president SAID these relaions "are currently in the best phase in history," calling to elevate the relationship to a strategic level with all African states and forming a common community of joint future. The Chinese president has indicated at establishing partnerhips in various domains for swapping expertise, noting that 1,000 African politicians have been invited to visit China. He has underlined establishment of a joint know-how-scientific network, 25 common research centers. Jinping also noted that the two sides have established economic, commercial and technological partnerships, increased commercial exchanges and sought to improve products' quality. Beijing that has already lifted custom tariffs with 33 African countries, deemed the least development in the continent, is s eeking to deepen economic cooperation with the Africans by launching small and medium companies. At the infrastructural level, China will execute 30 projects to link up the infrastrcutures of the African countries, establish land and maritimte routes within the framework of the "belt and road" initiative and will give a hand in building an African free trade zone. Source: Kuwait News Agency