Media key to Sino-Africa ties: Chinese official

NAIROBI, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The media is an important avenue in the promotion of friendship between Chinese and Africa people, a Chinese government official said on Monday.

That is the reason Chinese media firms with global reach have established their operations in Africa, said Chinese Embassy in Nairobi Counselor Yan Xiusheng told journalists here.

"The media platforms have managed to portray the true picture of Africa to the Chinese people and the real China to the Africa people so as to increase Sino-Africa links," Yan said during the first China-Africa communication Conference which was organized by the Communication University of China, and Kenya's Daystar University and Multimedia University.

The conference brought over 100 communication scholars and practitioners from Africa, China and the rest of the world to share their experiences and create partnerships.

The conference comes a few days after the end of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing which announced a 20 billion U.S. dollar development assistance to Africa.

"Through closer media partnership, the Chinese have gained an understanding of the economic and social achievement of Africa's while Africa people have discovered the rich cultural diversity of China," the counselor said.

Already all major Chinese media organizations have established African bureaus and nearly all of them are headquartered in Nairobi, Yan said that China is committed to nurturing and forging cooperation in the communication sector.

He added that Kenya is currently putting in place infrastructure that will allow the country to switch from analog to digital transmission by the end of this year.

"As a result a number of Chinese firms have established their operations in Kenya in order to ensure a smooth transition," he said.