According to the China Daily, a number of far-reaching plans aimed at improving on the livelihood of Africans will be announced by the Chinese Prime Minister, whose visit will last from November 6 to 8.

Chen Jian, the Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister, told a press conference that: "We will pay more attention to the buildup of Africa's capability of independent development," adding, "We will further push China-Africa cooperation forward in various fields such as agriculture, food safety, infrastructure construction, trade, investment and healthcare."

Prime Minister Jiabao is set to preside over the opening of the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov 7, where he is expected to deliver a keynote address.

The first China-Africa Summit was held in Beijing in November 2006, which marked the third ministerial meeting of the forum. Chinese president, Hu Jintao, at a meeting with African leaders, then listed eight major projects China would accomplish to boost Africa's development, ranging from canceling debts owed by the poorest African countries to lifting tariffs on goods.

According to Chen all those eight measures have been comprehensively implemented.

The Egypt summit will also afford the leaders from China and Africa the opportunity to adopt a declaration and an action plan to chart the path forward for further China-Africa cooperation from 2010 to 2012, Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun told reporters. He added that while in Egypt, the visiting Chinese prime minister is also scheduled to visit the Cairo-based headquarters of the League of Arab States, and that he will also sign a pack of cooperative agreements with his Egyptian counterpart.

Egypt is said to be the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with China. It is also the first developing country to set up a strategic cooperative relationship with the Asian nation.

Trade links

Trade between China and Africa has highly increased within the past decade, influenced mainly by China's increasing demand for Africa’s natural resources, and a growing African demand for cheap Chinese-made products. Trade between China and Africa in 2000 stood at $10.5 billion, compared to the 2008 figures which stood at $106.8 billion, up 45.1 percent on 2007.

In past years, China has competed with its smaller and sometimes belligerent neighbor, Taiwan, the self-governed island that China sees as a breakaway province, for the diplomatic recognition of some African governments. All but four African countries - Burkina Faso, Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Swaziland -- still maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Some of these countries are said to have switched ties numerous times, Malawi being the most recent to have established ties with China, after severing links with Taiwan in December 2007.