Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce of China show that China became Africa's largest trade partner in 2009. In 2010, bilateral trade reached $126.9 billion. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade hit $79 billion, half of which were contributed by private enterprises, mainly through exports.

"With the rapid increase of economic and trade cooperation between China and African countries, some problems became more prominent. It is natural," said Liu.

Targeting the problems, the Wanning Declaration calls for Chinese and African governments to cooperate more closely and share information to crack down on illegal activities. The declaration also encourages Chinese enterprises to learn how to implement China's policy in Africa and abide by local laws.

"It is good for the Wanning Declaration, a declaration issued by an NGO, to call for enterprises to learn and abide by local laws while doing business in Africa," Lu Shaye, Director General of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told ChinAfrica. "Besides the government's efforts, we need efforts from NGOs to monitor enterprises in their daily operations."

Necessity of NGOs

Lu said many NGOs can do what the government cannot do. In recent years, Chinese NGOs devoted to promoting China-Africa cooperation  have been mushrooming. In 2009, the first China-Africa Industrial Cooperation and Development Forum was held and continues to be held every three years. In 2010, the annual Roundtable Conference on China-Africa Cooperation was launched, and in October 2011, the first China-Africa Think Tank Forum was held and the forum will take place every year in China and an African country in rotation.

"It is good to see NGOs promoting China-Africa relations, which means more people are putting their attention on Sino-African relations, cooperation and friendship," said Lu, adding that these organizations can establish a strong basis and give an energetic impetus for long-term China-Africa cooperation.

"The government can learn from people-to-people exchanges and improve intergovernmental work," said Lu.

Compared with government departments, grassroots NGOs can more easily find problems in the bilateral cooperation. Through people-to-people contacts, these problems can be exposed to the government and be solved timely.

"This way, NGOs and the government can learn from and promote each other," said Lu.