Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) entitled as "Open Up New Prospects for A New Type of China-Africa Strategic Partnership."

The following is the full text of Hu's speech:

Dear Colleagues, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to meet you at the opening of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, as we are gathered here both to renew the friendship between the Chinese and African peoples and discuss ways to boost China-Africa friendship and all-round cooperation. On behalf of the Chinese government and people and in my own name, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to all the distinguished guests coming from afar. I also wish to take this opportunity to convey through you the cordial greetings and best wishes of the Chinese people to the brotherly African people!

In October 2000, FOCAC was set up in response to the call of the times. This initiative demonstrates the shared desire of the Chinese and African people to seek peace, cooperation and development in a changing world. In the past 12 years since its founding, the FOCAC member states, maintaining unity and working together, have made important progress in strengthening this mechanism of cooperation. The theme of the current Ministerial Conference is "build on past achievements and open up new prospects for the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership." China and Africa should, with both current and long-term needs in mind, redouble efforts to draw up a blueprint for promoting our cooperation in the next stage and lay a solid foundation for making new and greater progress in growing China-Africa relations in the years ahead.