President Yoweri Museveni has today left for the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea’s southern tip of the Sinai peninsular for the fourth 2-day Ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) due to start tomorrow Sunday November 8th to 9th.

 

The President Museveni was seen off at Entebbe International Airport this afternoon by Vice-President Professor Gilbert Bukenya, the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces Lt. General Ivan Koreta, the Commissioner for Rehabilitation in the Prisons Services, Mr. David Nsalasaata, the Head of Civil Service Mr. John Mitala, the Egyptian Ambassador to Uganda, Mr. Sabry M. Sabry and Entebbe Mayor, Mr. Steven Kabuye.

FOCAC is a collective consultation and dialogue mechanism between China and African countries. The main agenda of the Sharm el Sheikh conference in Egypt is to review the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Programme for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development, explore new initiatives and measures on the way toward Sino-African cooperation in such areas of priority as human resources, agriculture, infrastructure, investment and trade.

According to Mona Omar, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs in Egypt, Deepening of the Sino-Africa Cooperation is one of the top priorities in Africa as the continent pursues efforts to fast track its economic development.

Mona Omar, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs has told reporters that the forthcoming Ministerial Conference of the Sino-Africa Forum scheduled to convene in Sharm el Sheikh tomorrow Nov. 8th, will be another opportunity to strengthen the collaboration.  

"We are expecting to have a very successful meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh," Omar said after delivering an invitation letter to President Yoweri Museveni from his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak to attend the two-day meeting.

The meeting will convene after three years since the November 2006 Sino-Africa Summit in Beijing, China where Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a package of Eight Measures to assist Africa on socio-economic development according to the Chinese News agency Xhinua.

It is expected that China is to introduce new measures at the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting to further boost ties with the African continent which lags behind other continents in economic development.

She said Africa has listed food security and infrastructure as the top two priorities that will be presented to the Chinese delegation when the talks open at Sharm El-Sheikh, a beach resort on the coast of Red Sea. Many African countries face an acute shortage of food, leaving millions of people on the verge of starvation, especially in Eastern Africa, where a persistent drought over the recent years has ravaged gardens.
A sharp power crisis and the poor transport infrastructure have also slowed down the continent's economic growth, according to experts. 

 

ENDS