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Moving Closer The two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit produced business deals and the start of a strategic partnership Beijing was the best place to find African leaders in early November. Nearly 50 top officials from the continent assembled for the Beijing Summit and Third Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which promoted Sino-African relations. During the two-day summit on November 4-5, highlighting friendship, peace, cooperation and development, most African leaders expressed their wishes to achieve more pragmatic results through Sino-African cooperation. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said she hopes her country can obtain technology from the Chinese and make bamboo furniture for export. Gabons President Omar Bongo said he hopes more Chinese investors will create job opportunities in his country. And after China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Co. introduced its plan to cooperate with African countries on infrastructure construction, Guinea-Bissaus President Joao Bernardo Vieira immediately asked for detailed plans. A total of 48 African delegations came to the summit and ministerial conference from distant places, which indicates not only their deep friendship with China, but also the urgent needs of deepening cooperation on both sides, said Qu Fujun, former Chinese Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo. He added that both sides hope to fully utilize FOCAC, an effective dialogue platform and cooperative mechanism, to further promote Sino-African ties. The greatest political achievement of the Beijing summit of FOCAC is boosting the relationship between China and Africa to a new type of strategic partnership, he said. A new start Establishing and developing a Sino-African strategic partnership was the core of the summit. Chinese President Hu Jintao described the partnership as deepening political relations, broadening economic cooperation, expanding cultural exchanges, promot