China has taken steps to honor its commitments made at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to help the continent develop agriculture, a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.

The nation will dispatch 50 agricultural experts and technicians plus 100 volunteers to Africa this year, said Yang Shuzeng, director of the ministry's Department of Foreign Aid.

Yang made the remarks when briefing embassy officials from about 40 African countries on agricultural cooperation between China and the continent at a meeting organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Beijing.

At the Beijing Summit, China promised to send 100 agricultural experts to Africa to build 10 agricultural technology centers in the next three years.

President Hu Jintao, who is on an eight-nation African tour, will witness the opening ceremony of an agricultural technology demonstration center in Mozambique during his visit to the country, Yang said.

Hu will arrive in Mozambique today a for two-day state visit.

China-Africa cooperation in agriculture will have a bright future, said Yao Xiangjun, deputy director-general of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture. "We believe there will be a great potential for trading cooperation between China and Africa in small- and medium-sized farming equipment and hybrid-rice seeding," Yao said.

(China Daily February 7, 2007)