Tanzanian Foreign Minister Asha-Rose Migiro has described the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as the best way to exchange views between the Chinese and African governments and people to work out common development programs.

Migiro made the remarks before leaving for the Chinese capital of Beijing to attend the third ministerial conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as the forum is officially known.

The foreign minister said, "The forum is the best way to exchange views between China and Africa under one roof and come out with one voice on issues affecting our people's development and well-being."

"The first forum laid the foundation and gave direction to our ministerial conferences while the second forum resulted in the approved destination status for Chinese tourists and zero tariffs for our exports," the minister said.

Migiro is expecting that two documents, the Draft Declaration of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Draft Beijing Plan of Action (2007-2009), will be adopted before being approved by heads of state and/or governments from China and African countries.

The ministerial conference is slated for November 3 while the summit will be held in the ensuing two days, both in Beijing where the inaugural forum was held.

The Tanzanian foreign minister also said that being the first China-Africa summit where business people are involved, the decisions at these two meetings will be carried further to the private sector, which is the key actor in the development of Africa.

"The forum promotes the development of relations between African countries and China through equal participation by forum member states in decision making," added Migiro. "For example, the forum participants are equally involved in the preparation of the two consensus documents of the Beijing Plan of Action and the Beijing Declaration."

The two documents, therefore, will act as guidelines in bringing about opportunities for African countries to prioritize their areas of cooperation with China. Hence the forum gives African countries self-confidence, freedom, mutual participation as the key components in any kind of relations, the foreign minister said.

Tanzania is also expecting the China-Africa summit to serve as a platform on which the heads of state and/or governments will reaffirm their commitments on friendship, peace, cooperation and development for mutual benefit.

"The coming forum will demonstrate to the world the model of South-South Cooperation where the private sectors, side by side with state and/or government leaders, are actively participating in the development agenda," the minister said.

On bilateral relations, the foreign minister described the Tanzanian-Chinese ties as "excellent".

Tanzania and China are all-weather friends whose friendship has passed the test of time. "And we proudly look forward to ever- growing friendly relations between the two countries and people," the foreign minister concluded.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2006)