The fourth ministerial conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is scheduled for November at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

    "The conference will be held to comprehensively evaluate the achievements after the Beijing summit of the FOCAC in 2006 and draw up a plan on China-Africa cooperation for the next three years," Wu told Xinhua.

    "Africa is a continent full of hope and potential," Wu said. "It is to the benefit of China and Africa to maintain and further advances bilateral ties."

    The FOCAC was jointly proposed and established by China and more than 40 African countries in 2000. It consists of meetings at three levels: the ministerial conference, senior officials meeting, and talks between the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum and the African Diplomatic Mission in Beijing.

    The first ministerial conference was held in Beijing in October 2000. The second was held in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, in December 2003 and the third in Beijing in November 2006.