Kenya hopes that the upcoming Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will further cement the Africa-China relations and increase bilateral cooperation, Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju has said.

Kenya has decided to send a high-level delegation, headed by President Mwai Kibaki, to attend the summit, said Tuju, who will be a member of the delegation, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

The Nov. 4-5 summit, preceded by a ministerial conference scheduled for Nov. 3, will be the largest-scale gathering between Chinese and African leaders since the inauguration of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and African countries 50 years ago. Scores of African leaders will attend the summit.

"I think it (the summit) is very important. And for us as Kenya, we do have a very deliberate foreign policy to improve our relationship with China," said Tuju, who has visited China for several times.

"Traditionally, our relationship has been mainly with the western countries ... but we have realized that the future is China," added the minister, describing China as "a phenomenal country," not only in its great size, but also what he said "the way it is developing so fast."

Tuju said the summit is a very good chance for African countries to learn from China on the dealing of development issues.

"I think we have more to learn from China because of the very quick transformation that is happening in China ... that is something which Africa should learn so that we can also leapfrog as opposed to going through the slow process that western countries went through," the minister said.

Tuju said the policy of "looking eastwards" including looking towards China is the cornerstone of his foreign relations agenda and "it is a mistake of the past in this country (Kenya) that we concentrated it for too long in our relations with Europe at the expense of our relationship with the Eastern countries."

He expressed objection to the argument that China's increasing presence in Africa is a kind of neocolonialism, saying the relationship between China and Africa is "a consensual relationship" and "nobody is forcing us into this."

The minister said he believes that Africa would be mad if it didn't engage with China and some western countries have been trying to stand in the way for selfish reasons.

"I think one of the things about some of our western friends is that they have always tried to raise some kind of objection, on apprehension that Africa is taking deliberate steps to get closer to China purely on ideological reasons. What is important is to improve the quality of life of the people, which ideology you use to achieve that is a different part," Tuju said.

Tuju expressed satisfaction with the relations between Kenya and China, which have been advanced by an exchange of high-level visit, with Kibaki visiting China in August 2005 and President Hu Jintao visiting Kenya in April this year.

Tuju described the bilateral relations as being "perfect" and said everything is done within the context of mutual respect, mutual discussion and win-win solutions in the relationship between Kenya and China

Meanwhile, he identified some aspects in the bilateral relations that require improvement.

"We know that in our relationships with China from an economic standpoint, the trade balance is in China's favor. We want to tilt it a little bit so that we can establish some kind of sustainable equilibrium," he said.

"The biggest thing that we are able to sell to China is our tourism product and that is why we are very grateful that the year before last year, we signed the authorized destination status. We are very grateful that this was fast-tracked so that we can increase the number of Chinese visitors coming to Kenya," the minister added.

Tuju expressed the hope that more Chinese investors can come to Kenya to seek business opportunities, which "we believe that we are more likely to benefit."

Source: Xinhua