The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), to be held in the Chinese capital from Nov. 3-5, will boost the further development of bilateral ties and the establishment of a new China-Africa strategic partnership, said Chinese experts.

"The summit is an important event in the history of China-Africa relations and China's foreign affairs," said He Wenping, director of the African Studies Section at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

The summit, also the Third Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, focuses on the subject of "friendship, peace, cooperation and development."

Both Chinese and African leaders will review the achievements of China-Africa friendly cooperation over the past 50 years, blueprint bilateral future cooperation and exchange views on major international issues, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, more than 30 African heads of state or government plan to attend the summit.

It will be the highest-level and largest-scale meeting between China and African leaders since the founding of People's Republic of China, said An Yongyu, a senior diplomat who has been working in Africa for 30 years.

The Beijing summit comes after President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao's visits of 10 African countries in April and June this year.

"It is very rare for both president and premier to visit Africa in the same year, which shows China has attached great importance to its ties with Africa, " said An, who is also president of the China Society for African Studies.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relationships between the People's Republic of China and African countries.

China released its first African policy paper early this year, putting forward its proposals for all-round cooperation with Africa in various fields in the coming years.

Xu Weizhong, director of the African Studies Section at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said China has proposed equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with Africa, which can be proved by the subject of the summit.

During the summit, high-level dialogue between leaders and business people and a China-Africa entrepreneur conference will be held.

Experts said the economic and trade issue, especially cooperation in the investment sector, will be a major topic between Chinese and African leaders.

"Compared with the soaring trade volume, investment volume is rather low. The leaders will discuss how to lift the mutual investment from the governments' point of view," said He.

China-Africa economic ties have grown rapidly in recent years. Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that the two-way trade volume has rocketed from 4 billion U.S.dollars in 1995 to some 40 billion dollars in 2005.

Chinese direct investment in Africa has amounted to 1.18 billion dollars, with more than 800 Chinese enterprises on the continent.

With China's gradual increase of imports from Africa, bilateral economic ties have developed to a new level, said He, adding the ties will continue to expand.

FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.

Since the launch of FOCAC in 2000, two ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing and Addis Ababa. Enditem