Culture ministers from Africa convened in Beijing on Monday to take part in a conference designed to bridge a cultural gap between China and Africa.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Cultural Ministers' Forum of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Chinese Culture Minister Cai Wu said a better understanding of one another's cultures is the backbone of the ties between China and Africa.

"In recent years, communication and cooperation in culture between China and Africa have been progressing well, strengthening our mutual friendship," Cai said. "This has provided a platform for understanding our cultural differences and contributed to building a strategic relationship of development between China and Africa."

Cultural ties between China and Africa first date back to the Tang Dynasty, but had progressed very slowly compared to their economic and political relationship over the past 60-years. In recent years, two sides have increased cultural cooperation.

Edem Duke, Nigeria's Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, said on behalf of African ministers that an understanding and critical examination of cultural relations are vital for Africa's development.

"It is important for us to borrow from the rich cultural content of Africa, for us to reposition Africa and ensure that culture is not only a tool of diplomacy, but that we also can deploy it to achieve economic as well as the Millennium Development goals for the continent."

Edam Duke says cultural ties between Africa and China need to be strengthened not only for the two sides themselves, but for the rest of the world as well. "We must break down the barriers and let people from two continents to understand more about each other. It is important that we face the challenges not only as China and Africa but also as representatives of humanity. It is therefore important as ambassadors of culture to ensure that we leave here better enriched and promote this mutual relationship further."

He also encouraged China to build a cultural center. "We have built a big cultural center in Nigeria, we hope China also build a cultural center of Nigeria here (in China)."

Benin's Ambassador to China, Sèdozan Jean-Claude Apithy, spoke at the forum on behalf of the African Union as Benin is the current chair in the rotation system. "China and Africa attached great importance on political, economic and trade relationships. But the cultural relationship should also be the key of our cooperation, because culture is the origin of all peoples."

African ministers are in Beijing to examine the implementation of the action plan reached at the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2009.

Accordng to Cai, in the past six years, China and Africa have completed five "African Culture Focus" projects, three African cultural people visiting projects and five Sino-African cultural people mutual-visit projects. High level cultural officials also have 43 mutual visits.

Cai said 36 government cultural agreements and action plans were signed, 1600 members of 70 performing groups of China and Africa have perform in mutual lands and China's art groups have toured 160 times in Africa's nations and attended 30 art festivals. What's more, China has provided aids and materials worth 7.2 million yuan (US$1.13 million) to African nations.

The cultural minister's forum, under the framework of China-Africa Cooperation Forum, will be held on June 18-19 in Beijing.

The forum also passed the "Beijing Declaration," which aims to deepen the Sino-African cultural cooperation in the future, including the plan that in the next three years, 100 cultural institutions from each side of China and Africa will start working together under the "Sino-African cultural partnership program." The program will also be established as a platform to develop and collaborate on art human resources and help African nations to develop cultural businesses.

China will hold performances, exhibitions and symposiums from May to the end of this year in Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Changchun, and other major Chinese cities, as part of a project named "2012 African Culture Focus," according to the Ministry of Culture.

The project is co-sponsored by seven government departments including the Ministry of Culture, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the General Administration of Press and Publication, the General Administration of Sport, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

The project kicked off at the National Museum on May 25 with a series of exhibitions on African culture and China-Africa culture exchanges. It has been organized by China's Ministry of Culture to promote and create awareness of African culture in China by bringing together culture ministers from 50 African countries and their Chinese counterparts.

"As an African proverb says: 'If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together,'" China's cultural minister Cai Wu said. The year 2012 is pivotal for China and Africa and will unveil the new decade of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. The cultural minister's forum is a spearhead event for the 5th Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, which will be held in Beijing this July.