【正确答案】Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,
The Chinese people cherish sincere friendship towards the African people, and China's support to Africa's development is concrete and real. Whatever change may take place in the world, our friendship with Africa will not change, our commitment to deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and achieving common development with Africa will not change, and our policy of supporting Africa's economic and social development will not change. During the next three years, the Chinese government will take the following eight new measures to strengthen China- Africa cooperation:
First, we propose to establish a China-Africa partnership in addressing climate change. We will hold senior officials' consultations with African countries from time to time, and enhance cooperation on satellite weather monitoring, development and utilization of new energy sources, prevention and control of desertification and urban environmental protection. We have decided to build 100 clean energy projects for Africa covering solar power, bio- gas and small hydro-power.
Second, we will enhance cooperation with Africa in science and technology. We propose to launch a China- Africa science and technology partnership, under which we will carry out 100 joint demonstration projects on scientific and technological research, receive 100 African postdoctoral fellows to conduct scientific research in China and assist them in going back and serving their home countries.
Third, we will help Africa build up financing capacity. We will provide 10 billion U.S. dollars in concessional loans to African countries, and support Chinese financial institutions in setting up a special loan of 1 billion U.S. dollars for small and medium-sized African businesses. For the heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries in Africa having diplomatic relations with China, we will cancel their debts associated with interest-free government loans due to mature by the end of 2009.
Fourth, we will further open up China's market to African products. We will phase in zero-tariff treatment to 95 percent of the products from the least developed African countries having diplomatic relations with China, starting with 60 percent of the products within 20 l 0.
Fifth, we will further enhance cooperation with Africa in agriculture. We will increase the number of agricultural technology demonstration centers built by China in Africa to 20, send 50 agricultural technology teams to Africa and train 2,000 agricultural technology personnel for Africa, in order to help strengthen Africa' s ability to ensure food security.
Sixth, we will deepen cooperation in medical care and health. We will provide medical equipments and anti- malaria materials worth 500 million yuan to the 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers built by China and train 3,000 doctors and nurses for Africa.
Seventh, we will enhance cooperation in human resources development and education. We will build 50 China-Africa friendship schools and train 1,500 school principals and teachers for African countries. By 2012, we will increase the number of Chinese government scholarships to Africa to 5,500. And we will train a total of 20,000 professionals of various fields for Africa over the next three years.
Eighth, we will expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges. We propose to launch a China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Program, which will enable scholars and think tanks to have more exchanges and cooperation, share development experience, and provide intellectual support for formulating better cooperation policies by the two sides.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,
Egypt was the first African country to enter into diplomatic relations with the People' s Republic of China. The establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Egypt 53 years ago opened a new era in China-Africa relations. Today, Egypt is playing host to the 4th FOCAC Ministerial Conference, which will mark a new starting point in China-Africa relations. There is an African proverb which says, "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." There is also a Chinese saying that goes, "As distance can test a horse's strength, so time can reveal a person's heart." I am convinced that as long as China and Africa go hand in hand with an enterprising spirit and cooperate on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, we will seize opportunities and overcome challenges to take the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership to a new level, and make China-Africa friendship and cooperation even more fruitful.
In conclusion, I wish the 4th FOCAC Ministerial Conference a crowning success!