The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) Executive Secretary Soumana Sako has said Africa is benefiting from partnership with China as it provides competition for countries wishing to invest on the continent.

Sako, also former prime minister and finance and commerce minister of Mali, made the comment as some Western media has alleged that "China wants to colonize Africa."

He described the allegation as "sheer big lie" in an exclusive interview with Xinhua here on Friday, saying that "(China's entry into Africa) is in the best interest of Africa. If we African countries have something to sell and there are many buyers then we are in a good position."

He said contrary to Western media reports that when China built infrastructure in Africa, it brought cheap labor, thereby creating unemployment in Africa, Chinese investment was creating jobs on the continent.

"I can tell you that China has always been and remains a good friend of Africa," he said.

He cited his own experiences when he was a schoolboy in Mali to demonstrate that the Chinese had given selfless aid to African countries when they were in need.

The Chinese, he said, had assisted Mali to build its first factories in the 1960's after the country attained its independence. They were not doing this in order to exploit the newly independent countries, but to consolidate the political independence by building economic independence, he said.

Other notable examples of assistance that the Chinese government gave African countries include construction of major infrastructure, for example, the railway line linking Tanzania and Zambia. China has also assisted African countries to build their human resources base through training of thousands of specialists in various fields.

"I have not seen anything in terms of statistics to show Africa is losing out in its economic relations with China. Instead, Africa stands to gain. If Russian, Chinese, Japanese, European and American companies compete for Africa, the competition between them is in the best interest of Africa," he said.

Political partnership between African governments and China has also ensured that decisions made in international organizations were in the best interest of the poorest countries and not those big ones.

In recent years, the experience in most African countries was that whenever governments issue international tenders to build infrastructure, Chinese companies are likely to win the bid because their offers are competitive, he said.

Sako said the advent of Chinese investment and trade in Africa has also provided the people with good products at lower prices compared to those produced locally or manufactured elsewhere in the world.

"It is in the best interest of African consumers to have access to the best products at the lowest price," he said, adding that African countries could import form China the same products in line with the purchasing power of their citizens.

Sako said most African countries had noted that China was not interested in imposing its philosophy on the continent as it respected the sovereignty of the countries it did business with and allowed them to retain control over their economic policies.

He said it was evident that China appreciated the need for African countries and was not propping up dictatorial regimes and bad governance. "China shows respect for Africa and the sovereignty of African governments," he said.

China is supporting democracy and good governance in Africa through positive encouragement without imposing or applying punitive measures.

"We have to ensure decisions are made locally, not in Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Paris or London but by local people, and not imposed from the outside. African governments should uphold principles of participatory and accountable governance in line with the best interests of Africa and not to please any outside big power," he said.

In speaking of the prospect of the relations between China and Africa, Sako said, "It would be good if China could assist training institutions in Africa to build capacity to train specialists here in Africa. That would be a positive development."

There is also need for China to invest more in the productive sectors in Africa instead of just concentrating on commerce and trade, he said.

China should assist African countries to develop capacity to add value to their products instead of exporting them as raw materials. This, Sako said, would create more jobs for the people as well as creating more value addition.

Sako visited China in 1985, when China started to introduce economic reform and opening up policies. He said the experience that China has acquired in implementing various economic reforms that include market reforms designed to attract foreign investment would be of immense benefit to African countries, most of whom are grappling with economic challenges.

Established in 1991, the Harare-based ACBF is dedicated to helping African countries, in partnership with domestic and external stakeholders to build sustainable capacity for good governance and poverty reduction on the continent, he said. He expressed the hope that China would soon become a member of the ACBF and thus contribute more to help African countries out of poverty.

The ACBF has a total of 34 African and non-African member governments and organizations, with the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank being its major sponsors.

Sako assumed office as ACBF Executive Secretary in 2000. He said Zimbabwe is going through very challenging times but expressed optimism that the country would be able to emerge out of its current economic crisis and use its huge potential for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe.