China will train 15,000 African professionals, send 100 senior agricultural experts to Africa, and set up 10 special agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa over the next three years.

Chinese President Hu Jintao made the remarks here Saturday when addressing the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

China will also build 30 hospitals and provide 300 million yuan (37.5 million U.S. dollars) of grant to help Africa fight against malaria, Hu said. The money will be used to provide artemisinin and build 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers.

Meanwhile, China will dispatch 300 youth volunteers to Africa, build 100 rural schools there, and increase the number of Chinese government scholarships to African students from the current 2,000 per year to 4,000 per year by 2009.

President Hu, 41 heads of state or government and senior officials of 48 African countries that have diplomatic ties with China, including Prime Minister of Ethiopia which co-chairs FOCAC, Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the Commission of the African Union (AU) and representatives from regional and international organizations, attended the landmark gathering highlighting " friendship, peace, cooperation and development."

Prior to the opening ceremony, a grand welcoming ceremony was held at the Great Hall of the People.

The summit has been widely acclaimed as the most important and largest meeting between Chinese and African leaders since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

At the two-day summit, China and African countries will review the development of China-Africa relationship and blueprint the future cooperation. FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.

Since the FOCAC launch in 2000, three ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing and Addis Ababa, with an action plan discussed and passed, laying out cooperation programs between China and Africa from 2007 to 2009 under the FOCAC framework.

Source: Xinhua