The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is approaching and all participants are ready and geared up for the big event. Nalana Ta-Ama, Ambassador of Togo to Beijing and head of the diplomatic corps of African states in China, recently sat down with ChinAfrica, to share his expectations of the forum. Excerpts follow:

ChinAfrica: The Fifth FOCAC Ministerial Conference is to be held in mid-July. What are your expectations of the conference?

Nolana Ta-Ama: Let me say, first, that FOCAC is a fundamental part of international cooperation. Therefore, it is one of the most important components of China-Africa relations.

Obviously, the decision of these special relations has not come out of nothing. It was born from the will of two poles determined to fight to get out of their situation of underdevelopment, who share the same history, and who adhere to the same endogenous structures of poverty. 

Now, about your question on the environment of the China-Africa relations, we have to appreciate that equality and mutual respect have been and still are the main principles of reference.

So, when the international environment threw light on the necessity to face the struggle to get out of underdevelopment, while sticking to the reality of the 21st century, China and African states decided to adopt the objectives of the millennium [goals] set by the United Nations. These are: to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, insure all have primary education, promote gender equality and women's autonomy, reduce infant mortality, improve maternal health, fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, insure a sustainable humane environment and build a world partnership for development.

The FOCAC was created on the agreement that this partnership should be developed on the criteria of South-South cooperation, in a way to create a kind of dialogue which would be an institutionalized platform for the promotion of African economic development.

This is why, every three years, especially since the 2006 Beijing Summit, in which some leaders of African states and China participated, consultations are launched and aimed at a stronger strategic partnership to expand China-Africa cooperation to all the actors of African development.

About the Fifth FOCAC Ministerial Conference, which will take place in July, on the topic of consolidating the achievements and opening new perspectives for the new Sino-African strategic partnership, the conference will review steps taken in the development of Sino-African relations up to now.

This FOCAC will also work towards strengthening the achievements, and look at the necessity of expanding the FOCAC members to maintain peace through the development of regional infrastructures and the development of the security inside and outside member countries.

At the Fourth FOCAC held in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt in 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed eight measures to promote China-Africa cooperation. In your country Togo, have all these measures been implemented? In what sectors did your country strengthen cooperation with China under this platform?

Without hesitation I answer yes! In fact, over and above the loans for investments in big infrastructures, I can say that, following the example of other less developed countries, the Chinese Government approved the debt remission for our country and [initiated] projects such as well digging, school construction, solar energy, cooperation in and demonstration of agricultural technologies, hospital equipment, supplementary material offered to the center against malaria, as well as medicines against malaria.

What sectors do you hope FOCAC will focus on in its future efforts in promoting joint development of China and African countries?

Highlighted sectors will probably concentrate their efforts on research in the construction of peace and security through integration and development policies within the framework of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development, to accomplish sustainable development.

The FOCAC mechanism has been running for more than 10 years. Do you think the mechanism should be reformed according to new developments in Sino-African relations?

Ten years of cooperation through the Forum prove that the mechanism it established works correctly due to follow-ups, based mostly on permanent consultation between the two parties of the Forum - China and the African states.

Obviously, like any human construction, this construction has room for improvement, and it is right that the base of the Forum expand constantly with the integration of women, business persons, jurists, NGOs and universities that organize think-tank groups.

I noticed that the China-aided agricultural technology demonstration center in Togo was completed in late April. What do you think of the role of the center in terms of facilitating agricultural exchanges between China and Togo?

When we think of the place of agriculture in Togo, I would like to mention that the agricultural technology demonstration center is unanimously acknowledged as one of the most valuable contributions of China to the development of agriculture in Togo and other countries of the region.

It is then with real satisfaction and gratitude that we see the continuous research on the development of agriculture occupy a special place in the implementation of the eight measures set for Africa.